Pulling Your Own Strings
by ThatDudeCalledBob
Summary: When Naruto came bursting into his office demanding to learn about puppets because they were 'super cool' and 'so badass' the Sandaime simply handed over a scroll detailing the little information Konoha had on the art. He didn't expect the boy to pursue it much further and he certainly didn't expect the boy to reinvent the skill all by himself. Puppeteer!Naruto Manipulative!Konoha
1. Fly On The Wall

**Pulling Your Own Strings**

_Chapter 1: Fly On The Wall_

* * *

**|Eight Years Old|**

In a fling of frustration the small blonde-haired boy threw his school bag at the couch in his apartment before turning quickly and closing the door behind him. He dropped his keys on the kitchen-side and as they clattered slipped off his blue shinobi sandals. He moved toward the couch that now held his bag and pulled off the much too large orange jacket that he always wore as he did so. Slipping out of the infernal thing, his thin black undershirt was left all on it's lonesome to protect the boy from the cold air in the room. He moaned in frustration as he sat on the couch and pulled out a large black book with what appeared to be frustrated acceptance on his face.

Naruto was _not _happy; his stupid teacher, Iruka, had demanded that he at least try to read the book he had been given. The man had taken him aside after class which already pissed Naruto off; he hadn't done anything too bad as far as he knew. Well, not anything that Iruka could have found out about. He was then further irritated when the man had begun a vicious verbal dressing down of Naruto and his abilities:

_"Naruto, this is the second semester and I'd have hoped you'd have realised that the academy is _not _a joke by now." The man's serious gaze was making the boy feel small and so the blonde did what he did best and changed the subject._

_"But sensei... It's so boring!" The boy gesticulated wildly, "Who cares about stupid Iwa shinobi?"_

_The man's eyes hardened as the boy spoke, "I do, Naruto. And so does the entire school staff." At the boy's lack of attention he added, "After half a year you still have yet to show any true capabilities as a shinobi."_

_"You'll see, I'm gonna be the best shinobi ever - the Hokage!"_

_The man glowered at the eight year old in front of him, "Considering you have to pass the academy to be Hokage I don't think you'll ever succeed in your goal. I have had you in my class for quite some time now and after experiencing your childish lack of respect firsthand I fail to see what the Sandaime ever thought he saw in you that made him think this establishment would be good for you. It couldn't have been shinobi skills - they're non-existent - and your attitude, if possible, is even worse. If you don't buckle up and take this seriously then I will have to take action."_

_As the man had grown even more serious the blonde had began to listen meekly and when he was insulted so viciously - and by his sensei no less - he felt tempted to defend himself against such comments. He couldn't manage his usual angry retort however, in the face of such overwhelmingly harsh words._

_Naruto didn't snap back. Instead, he retreated into his shoulders from embarrassment; Iruka had never been so brutal. It had always been 'Naruto try harder' or 'Naruto, pay attention'. No, this time the man had crossed the threshold of polite exasperation to a degrading rant. Naruto felt so bad after it and couldn't find the strength to merely ignore it like he usually did when the villagers got on his case._

_"H-Hai, sensei." He whispered softly, "I'll try to read the book." The man's gazed softened at the sight of a thoroughly chastised Naruto and he moved to put his hand on the boy's shoulder._

_Before he could however, the boy ran out of the classroom quickly, "Naruto!" He tried to beckon the boy back but had only succeeded in a slight flinch from the boy before he continued his trip out of the classroom. Perhaps he had been too harsh on the boy? No, the eight year old needed to hear it and if not from him then he'd hear it from a less polite and much more cruel voice._

_Naruto meanwhile ignored his teacher's call. The man didn't care about him really - he just pretended to for the Hokage. If he did he wouldn't just make him read the book, he'd help him do it. After all, he had been forced to teach himself how to read and still struggled to this day. But the man didn't know that; he didn't care enough to know._

At first the blonde has refused as he always did but at the sight of the man's furious eyes had relented against his better judgement. To him the book, which was aptly named 'Famous Shinobi of the Third Great War', was a waste of time. Who cared about some stupid shark-man from Kiri when you could learn about the Yondaime? No, the only important shinobi were the heroes of Konoha - and that was that!

Regardless, he _had _promised Iruka he'd at least try to read it and so, in the confines of his tiny apartment, he opened the book and flicked through to a random page. He was greeted with the sight of a tall, imposing black haired man staring coldly at the camera that had taken his photo. The blonde was surprised by the sight of such an intimidating looking man and so decided to look further into his profile.

"S-Sandaime K-K-Kazekage." The boy struggled as he read the words out aloud. The guy had been the kage of Suna! Heh, that was kinda cool. He kept reading and was even more impressed when he learnt that the man had been the most powerful shinobi in Suna's history. Apparently he was so powerful because he had a bloodline called 'magnet release'. The boy was amazed as the book described his ability to control sand and use it according to his will.

_'Iron Sand?'_ Naruto wondered, _'I wish I had that!'_

When he got to the part in the book that explained he had been killed the boy was shocked. Who could be strong enough to kill the best shinobi ever from Suna? Grinning, he realised it must of been a Konoha shinobi. After all, they _were _the best. Continuing to read, he was further surprised when he found out he was killed by another Suna shinobi.

"S-Sasori?" What a bad name. It wasn't cool at all! Regardless, he read on as it described how the Sandaime Kazekage had been killed by the aspiring shinobi before he left the village and became a missing nin. "He must have been super strong!" He exclaimed to his empty apartment. Some might say it was weird to talk to no one but he didn't care - it was better than the usual silence he experienced being alone.

Seeing a page number for Sasori, he flipped to the indicated page and was shocked as the picture of a young fifteen year old greeted him. That settles it then; this guy was way cooler if he killed the other guy when he was that young. As he stared at the face of the missing-nin he realised that this guy must have had some crazy ability if he killed the strongest guy _ever _from Suna - and he had a bloodline too! So he read on and was amazed as it explained the man - no, boy - used puppets - Puppets! - to kill the Kazekage.

Puppets? Those things he saw at show during festivals? They killed the man? He was both surprised and disappointed but his thoughts quickly turned to glee as it described Sasori's puppets using poison, flamethrowers and projectile weapons. Traps and hidden attacks - now that was a language he could understand! He continued to read in apt attention as it described the countless ways the shinobi would use his puppets to trick, feint or avoid enemies and how he would take them out through the use of stealth and secrecy. Now this was a guy who Naruto understood! He was like a prankster - except his pranks killed people. A juvenile part of Naruto's mind - which, considering he was eight, was a large part - made the boy wonder what it would be like if he himself had puppets.

All the pranks he could get away with if he controlled a puppet! They'd never know it was him! And apparently from the sounds of it using puppets wasn't just a cool trick - they could actually do heaps of damage in battle! Well, this Sasori guy could at least... He was an S-Rank missing-nin and he only used puppets in battle to do stuff for him.

Yep, that settled it. Puppets...

_'I gotta get me some of those.' _Naruto's mind cackled evilly.

* * *

"Jiji!" A young voice pierced Sarutobi's calm office air.

The man smiled softly and rubbed his forehead to ward away the incoming headache courtesy of the boy in front of him, "Hello Naruto-kun." The small blonde boy stood in front of him with a beaming smile on his face. The old man was relieved to see that expression rather than the mischievous grin he sometimes wore when he came to visit; it meant that he wasn't planning on pranking the man. In fact, from the looks of things the boy merely came to sate his curiosity surrounding something, "To what do I owe the pleasure?" The boy scrunched his face up in confusion as he tried to work out what the man had asked.

"Eh?" Was his poignant response.

The man sighed, "Why did you wish to see me?" He left out the 'why have you deigned to bother me' bit - his frustrated part of his brain was sick of the boy's constant disruptions. He never voiced such concerns however as he was always prevented to by the soul-crushing guilt he contained surrounding the boy. Images flashed through his mind.

_"Why does everyone hate me Jiji?"_

_"I don't understand either, Naruto."_

He always avoided such painful questions:

_"Did... Did you know my parents?"_

_"... No. I'm sorry Naruto-kun."_

It was his greatest regret and he told himself it was for the boy's protection but a part of him knew that it was a lie - it was his own fear of what the boy would become if told. He shuddered to think of what would happen if the boy grew hatred for the village, something he believed was beginning to happen. So he soldiered on through the countless interruptions in the hope that the boy would value his relationship with him enough not to harm the village itself.

"I was doing some homework," At the Hokage's suprised glance the boy explained, "Iruka said I wasn't doing well and stuff so I promised I'd try." If the darkening of his eyes was anything to go by what Iruka said had affected him more than he let on, "Yeah, so I was reading this book about all these cool shinobi and I started reading about the Sandaime Kazekage..."

"Ah, yes. I remember him. Please, continue." And he did know the man; they had met on the battlefield before - both with and against each other. The man's reputation didn't do justice to his prowess. Such a shame that the young puppeteer put an end to his reign. What was his name again? Sa-

"And this super cool guy called Sasori took him out." The Sandaime refocused his attention on the blonde, "And I was like 'wow how did he beat the strongest guy ever?' so I looked at his abilities and he used puppets Jiji... Puppets!"

"Oh?" His feigned interest made Naruto smile in happiness.

"Yeah! They had flamethrowers, weapons, poison, armor and all kinds of other stuff! It was so cool how he had them made up of all this different stuff!" The boy's face twisted into a smirk at this, "And then I decided - I wanna learn about puppets cause' I could use em for pranks and stuff." The boy's eyes turned into huge pleading pits of desperation, "So can you teach me Jiji? Please?"

Ignoring the boy's unusual politeness, Sarutobi pondered the boy's proclamation; it was odd enough that the child was _reading, _let alone being interested in both a foreign and secretive art. Even if he was willing to let the boy learn such advanced technique - which he most certainly wasn't - he wasn't sure he could find any information on the art. Puppetry was a shinobi branch exclusive to the desert and, by proxy, Suna. The only time Konoha experienced it was through war or the occasional festivals that brought foreign entertainment to the village. Regardless, he couldn't simply deny the boy's first actual attempt to learn something outside of what was required and so he decided he would play along for now.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun but," The boy's face grew downtrodden as he spoke, "The use of puppets in battle is exclusively used by Suna. We have neither the knowledge nor the skill to replicate it. But I do have some scrolls detailing famous puppeteers and the way they were used. It's mostly theoretical but I'm sure a smart boy like you can fill in the blanks." Actually, he was sure he _couldn't _but the expectation that Naruto would succeed would shame the boy when he didn't manage to and would prevent him from asking any further.

The boy looked ecstatic as he listened, "Aww, thanks heaps Jiji!" He grinned from ear-to-ear and the man felt a pang of guilt hit his heart at such blatant manipulation, "You won't regret it."

"I should hope not." The man smiled as he stood to look at his scroll collection, trying to find any to do with puppetry. He certainly wouldn't regret it because the boy in front of him wouldn't be _able_ to make him regret it - not with the sparse information on the art Konoha had. At least, he hoped he couldn't... Could he?

* * *

Before Naruto could read the scrolls the Hokage had given him he still had the matter of homework to attend to; the class assignment had been to pick a shinobi out of the book and do research on them in preparation for Monday. Iruka had said it was a good way to put into perspective the diverse and wide-ranging skills that shinobi employed. Regardless, the blonde boy knew most people in the class would choose the super cool people like Jiji or the Sannin.

The most popular choice - and the one Naruto usually went with - was the Yondaime Hokage. The heroic story of how he fought against the Kyuubi and defeated it at the cost of his own life was one that the people of Konoha held close to their hearts. The man was idolised to the point of a deity in the village - he was, quite literally, a god among men to the population and Naruto was no different. Until he read about Sasori he had thought no one could be as awesome as the Yondaime. He had worshipped him to the point that he felt honored to have the same hair colour, let alone ever aspiring to be like him.

Now that he had read about Sasori he realised just how narrow-minded his previous thoughts surrounding shinobi had been. Gone was the idea that Konoha was the only village worthy of respect. In it's place was a healthy respect for the outside world and the people in it. The redhead - and to a lesser degree, the Kazekage he had killed - were at the crux of this change in ideals and so Naruto decided he would instead research the redhead rather than his usual Yondaime.

He started off by sneaking into the library quietly. He knew if he was seen he'd get kicked out and so he moved quickly through the dark halls of the building, avoiding the sight of any workers or individuals using the library for their own purpose. Within a few minutes he came upon the section that held books surrounding individual shinobi. Such an honor was usually reserved to those of A or S-rank and so Naruto was pleasantly surprised when he found a section for the puppeteer. In it there were books describing the way he revolutionised the Suna war effort and puppetry itself and there was even one written by himself surrounding the art.

Ignoring those for now, he reached in and grabbed a much more simplistic one; the biography of the man and his accomplishments. Aptly titled, '_Akasuna no Sasori_', Naruto felt a flutter of excitement travel through his body as he realised the book was exactly what he had been looking for. Not wasting a moment longer, Naruto quickly moved to one of the countless study desks in the building - the one furthest away from anyone else - and sat down at it. He pulled the book out and flipped to a random page:

_...Suna forces being pushed back across the river and Iwa pursued heavily, believing they had attained victory. As their shinobi waded through the waters of the river Sasori sprung his trap. With their troops heavily encumbered by the terrain surrounding them, Iwa couldn't sound a retreat at the sight of the one-hundred puppets flying down around them. What followed was, simply put, a massacre. Through an ingenious combination of poison, projectiles and explosives the puppeteer devastated the Iwa advance. Estimates of casualties Iwa experienced during the initial attack have been placed around two to three-hundred while the delayed deaths through poison and infection are believed to be around four to five hundred which places total losses as anywhere from six to eight-hundred. This means that in one fell swoop Sasori managed to put 10% of Iwa's mobilised forces out of commission. This was a significant blow to Tsuchi no Kuni and helped to establish the Konoha foothold near Kannabi Bridge._

As Naruto stopped reading he leaned his head back, eyes wide open, "Whoa." He whispered in shock. The idea that a single man could so utterly obliterate a force of 800 - 800! - was entirely foreign to the boy. The only person he had heard of that managed that kind of wide-scale destruction was the idealised Yondaime who had been reputed to do so quite often in the Third Shinobi War. Respect for the puppeteer rose significantly in that moment and Naruto knew that his earlier decision to pursue the art had been the right one.

He _would_ be a puppeteer and no one could stop him.

* * *

"Alright, quieten down class." Iruka asked kindly as the group of eight year olds in the room ignored him and continued to shout at each other like lunatics, "I said quiet!" His booming voice caused an immediate reaction and he watched in satisfaction and pride as the children all quickly stopped talking and returned to their seats. It was amazing what one could learn about the class from simply _looking _at the way people sat.

In one corner of the room sat Uchiha Sasuke. He glared at anything that moved near him which was, fortunately for now, nothing. The aptly named Uchiha Massacre had caused everyone to walk on eggshells around the emotionally unstable boy but Iruka knew it would only be a matter of time before the girls of the class began to swoon over him. In the middle of the room the Aburame heir, Shino, sat side by side with the obnoxious Inuzuka boy, Kiba, and the comparatively quiet Hyuuga heiress, Hinata. The man smiled lightly as his gaze crossed over them; of all the students in the classroom Shino and Hinata gave him the least trouble. Kiba was another matter entirely.

It was in the other corner of the room that Iruka was met with the sight of perhaps the biggest trouble in his class; Uzumaki Naruto sat in his usual seat - the one furthest away from everyone - with a scroll in his hand. The boy seemed to be reading it intensely and not for the first time Iruka wondered if he had been too harsh on the child and drawn the ire of the boy in the form of some sort of prank. Next to the blonde sat the only person both willing and brave enough to sit next to the village pariah; Nara Shikamaru. The chunin knew he only sat there to avoid having to do too much work but it was nice to know that Naruto didn't scare_ everyone _in his age group. Finally his gaze rested on the ever faithful friend of Shikamaru; Akimichi Chouji. No surpises there, the two stuck together like glue.

Shaking his head to dismiss his thoughts, he began to speak, "It's time to go over the homework I assigned for the weekend." As groans erupted he gave a pointed glare to the room and the sounds ceased, "Would anyone like to go first?" As he asked a hand shot up at the front of the classroom. Realising it was Sakura - as per usual - motioned for his hand, "Alright. Sakura, what was the name of the person you studied and what made them famous?"

"I looked at Tsunade from the Densetsu no Sannin! She's really famous because of her medical knowledge - she's considered the best med-nin in the world." She beamed as she spoke, obviously happy with herself and Iruka returned the favor by smiling back at her.

"Good work Sakura. I'm looking forward to reading your full report," A series of groans once again erupted at the reminder of the schoolwork they had to have finished by the end of the week, "Now, how about I choose someone now... Shino, who'd you study?"

The Aburame stiffened as he was chosen before beginning to speak, "I researched Senju Tobirama, the Nidaime Hokage. Aside from the obvious fact that he was the leader of our village, he was most famous for his mastery over water - he could produce techniques out of the molecules in the air." The boy spoke without emotion although as he finished he seemed sigh in contentment.

Iruka smiled at the boy, "Nice job, Shino. The Nidaime certainly was a master of Suiton." He looked around the classroom silently before he settled on the blonde in the corner of the room who still wasn't paying attention. "Naruto!" The boy jumped at the call of his name, "Who was the person you looked up?"

Several snickers could be heard across the room while others groaned in boredom; the boy would either say he didn't do it or tell some half-assed story about the Yondaime that was more fantasy than fact. It was all that ever happened. Iruka ignored the sounds as he paid attention to the boy; he had decided he might as well test to see if the words from several days ago had actually struck home or not.

The boy straightened his back and began to speak excitedly, "I looked at Akasuna no Sasori!" Students looked at him in confusion - the puppeteer was not in the syllabus, "He was this super cool Suna shinobi who used puppets in battle and was famous for being able to control hundreds at once!" Iruka stared at him in surprise; while he had hoped for a better and more detailed response than that it seemed like Naruto had actually _tried _to do his homework.

"He used puppets? What a _loser_." A boy near the front used Iruka's moment of stunned silence as an opportunity to belittle the man Naruto researched. Before the blue-eyed boy could snap out a retort Iruka regained his bearings.

"U-Um, very good Naruto!" His reply sounded weak even to his own ears and from the look of the blonde student he was talking to the tone did _not_ go unnoticed. The boy was looking down at the floor, clearly upset with his teacher's reaction. Iruka knew he had screwed up but how was he to know that the boy would actually do the work set for once?

He shrugged his shoulders; the boy would forget soon enough and go back to being the insufferable brat he really was.

* * *

When he had been unintentionally mocked by his teacher in front of the class Naruto didn't react; he didn't care enough right now. This scroll he was reading was way too interesting to waste his time with Iruka-teme! It explained how much damage the puppeteers had done in the wars and how Suna's Puppet Brigade in particular had helped to change the very tide of the war. Most importantly however, it spoke of how chakra strings were the most important part of learning to be a puppeteer.

Naruto learned that the skill was available to anyone in Konoha too! One simply needed the right chakra control and patience to learn how. Unfortunately, without the in depth knowledge of how puppets work the skill was reduced to only being used in hospitals as it wasn't applicable to real-time combat. This didn't dissuade him though and he simply resolved to learn the skill regardless of the restrictions.

Naruto had never been one to plan too far ahead so he didn't particularly care that the skill couldn't be used without an intricate knowledge of how to create the puppets it could control - he could work that out later. So he resolved to go to the hospital and ask someone to teach him how to use chakra strings. If he couldn't find someone who would teach him then he'd force someone! It was that simple; Uzumaki Naruto wouldn't take no for an answer!

* * *

The ANBU member stood in front of the Hokage silently. The two were situated in the Hokage's office as the Sandaime thought over the report the man had just given. Considering the position the report was being given - in the office and not the ANBU HQ - the mission couldn't have been particularly high-profile. And what other mission is given to ANBU members that isn't high-profile other than the protection of one Uzumaki Naruto? The boy always had at least one pair of eyes on him and would continue to do so untile he graduated _or _the venerable leader in front of him decided he was able to look after himself.

The Sandaime finally looked up and stared at the ANBU member intensely, "This fixation he has is most curious." He hummed as he thought about how the child had demanded to learn about puppetry, "Most curious indeed." Naruto had never shown a particular interest in any field other than stealth and that had only been so he could prank better. Part of him believed this was also the case with the puppetry but another, deeper, logical part of him realised that such obsession from the boy hadn't been seen since he had learnt about the Yondaime when he was four.

"Hokage-sama?" The man - aptly named Fly in ANBU - asked cautiously; the older man in front of him had seemingly lost himself in thought.

Sarutobi looked up in surprise, "Ah, my apologies. Where were we?" He paused for a moment before adding, "His fascination with puppetry shouldn't amount to anything - we don't have the means to support it." Stroking his beard, the man settled on an appropriate course of action, "Leave him be for now. While he will be disappointed by the lack of success he will experience in the area it is much better than him actually finding something he _can _grow powerful in. I shudder to think what the council would do if he found strength."

The ANBU member couldn't help but agree; every time Naruto seemed to apply himself to something they forced the Hokage to gently push the boy away for fear of the power the boy held inside himself. They were fortunate the blonde had yet to find something he truly loved, otherwise the Sandaime wouldn't have been able to use the peaceful means he does now to get him off such a course.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Yes, it was for the best that Naruto find no success in puppetry. He couldn't grow too powerful - it was for his own good.

* * *

With his eyes squinted in frustration and nose wrinkled in distaste it was obvious to anyone watching that Uzumaki Naruto was most displeased with the progress he had attained in what he was currently doing. Of course, no one was watching as far as he knew - aside from the usual animal-face person that always seemed to be around. Yeah, he was somewhere to the left of the training field. Naruto could practically _see _him leaning on a tree branch.

Contrary to what the Sandaime hoped, Naruto unfortunately could detect the ANBU detail he had on him. As far as he knew, someone was always watching him. Since he was old enough to walk he began to notice the signs; a ruffle of movement in his peripheral vision, the light padding of sandals touching floor - it was all obvious enough to a boy who had been dealing with it since he was born. At first, he had been terrified of such observation; he only achieved fleeting glances of their faces when he was younger and their imposing animal masks gave the boy countless nightmares to the point that he never _truly _felt safe around masked individuals again.

When a five year old Naruto had once rambled to the Hokage in one of their rare meetings about how he kept seeing floating 'dogs' and how 'cats' kept looking at him it hadn't taken the man long to leap to the logical conclusion; the ANBU were being compromised by a five year old. Aside from the obvious insult to their pride, the Hokage also ensured they stayed hidden - both as a way to relieve the child of his fears and to allow for the observation to continue. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done and the boy always knew from that point on that there was some sort of ANBU member around watching him at all times.

This had the effect of both increasing Naruto's already advanced perception - being granted advanced senses from the beast sealed inside him - and forcing the boy to become unusually gifted at stealth in order to give his handlers the slip when he needed to. The Hokage used to grow terrified when the boy did so; when he was young if Naruto escaped his watchers it was so the boy could vent his frustrations on some hapless tree or to cry himself to sleep in a dark alleyway, cursing the village as he did so. Now however, the boy's uncanny happiness meant that when he got away from the ANBU it was only so he could pull a light-hearted prank, usually on someone who had wronged him. Needless to say, the Sandaime was most relieved when the boy changed from cursing the village to pranking it.

It was with these enhanced skills, courtesy of having to avoid ANBU from the age of five, that allowed Naruto to know he was being watched as he read the scroll on chakra strings. He didn't pay any attention to the man in the trees however, and instead focused all his being on the advanced technique written on the paper in front of him. He had already tried to create strings only for such an attempt to result in nothing - not an explosion or a flying leaf as usually happened when he harnessed his chakra - but nothing at all.

The boy was, understandably, quite displeased. He wasn't stupid - well, he wasn't _too _stupid - he knew that it was his chakra control, or lack thereof, that caused such failure. It was unfortunate however that for the life of him he didn't know _how _to improve in controlling the monster that was his chakra. The teachers at the academy had said from the moment he had harnessed his chakra for the first time that he was doomed. In fact, he could remember the moment well:

_"Alright class, it's time to try and harness your chakra." Iruka smiled as he looked at the class of eight year olds he had only had for a week, "Now, don't be to frustrated if you can't manage it on your first time or if there isn't much - you'd have to be a freak of nature to pull off anything more than a wisp at this age." He had said it as a way to comfort the children; last year a few had cried because they couldn't manage the task. So he decided this year to forewarn them._

_He watched as the children lined up and tried pulling their chakra out one by one. First the Aburame boy managed a slight jump, enough to warrant it as a success. Then the Hyuuga girl, as was common with her family, managed a small, controlled trickle. As they shuffled through each student, civilians and clan members alike, he was subject to the sight of tiny, inestimable bounces of chakra in the air. He smiled softly, remembering his own youthful experience of touching his chakra for the first time._

_Next up was the Uchiha. He was a quiet boy if a little aloof. Hopefully his mother - that Mikoto woman - would ensure he stay grounded. The boy tugged on his chakra and it began to whirl around him. The amount was a notable increase in comparison to the other children but nothing too out of the ordinary. The other kids looked at him in awe and he realised it must look impressive to such inexperienced children._

_Satisfied, he turned his attention to the one person he didn't want to; the Kyuubi brat Uzumaki Naruto. The child was a slight on his honor to even be standing in his classroom and he couldn't help but look at the boy in disgust. He didn't know what the Hokage saw in the child. He watched as the blonde tried to draw his chakra desperately only to fail in the act. Some of the more vicious children began to mock him and, if the look on his face was anything to go by, he was accustomed to it. Rather than be disheartened, the boy straightened his back and huffed before trying again._

_This time he succeeded; that much was obvious from the explosion of chakra that whipped around the room. Papers fluttered from the raw intensity of the boy's chakra. He felt a sweat on his brow appear from the heat and a creak of the foundations. Some children fell backwards from the pressure while the child himself didn't even seem like he had drawn a drop of his reserves out. Worried for the safety of the building, he quickly gesture for the child to stop._

_There was a brief moment of silence as the children stared at Naruto in shock. He had drawn more than all the students combined - perhaps more than Iruka as well._

_"What a freak!" A smarmy civilian kid pointed accusingly as the class erupted in laughter at the child, "Freak! Freak! Freak!" The chant started and the blonde tensed in pain from the verbal abuse, tears pricking his eyes._

_'Ah, yes. Not the best choice of words Iruka.' The chunin sheepishly thought; he hadn't meant to insult the child when he opened with his diatribe - he honestly hadn't!_

Despite the pain of being mocked Naruto grinned at the memory; even if Sasuke-teme was better than him at everything else he couldn't beat him in chakra reserves, ha! The obvious downside to this however was the his control was shot beyond belief and the usual chakra control techniques the academy used didn't work. An obvious example of this was the leaf concentration exercise; while yes, he could stick the leaf on his forehead with chakra, it didn't help his control at all. It was like trying to control lake with a straw - it just didn't put a dent in it. He had long since forsaken even trying the exercise but now it seemed he had to return to it and at least try, otherwise he wouldn't be able to use chakra strings. And if he couldn't use chakra strings he couldn't be a puppeteer!

So Naruto, using his _incredible_ intellect, realised that he had to use the leaf exercise. With the resolution in his mind and a purpose for the day the boy stood up from where he had been sitting and moved toward the treeline to grab a leaf. He decided, with a small malicious streak, that he would grab the leaf from the _exact _tree the ANBU member was sitting in.

The man meanwhile, tensed in fear as the blonde walked up to his tree and prepared to shunshin away only to realise he was simply grabbing a leaf. Of all the trees to choose how on earth did he manage to luck out and choose the one he was hidden in? Well, he hoped he was hidden in...

* * *

It was on the second month of practicing the leaf exercise that Naruto realised he had to up the ante somehow. Even with all the hours he had put into the training there had been no visible improvement in his chakra control for quite some time. He could barely restrict the flow enough for chakra strings, let alone actually form the shape or direct them. No, he wasn't even an inch closer and he had no way of improving. Frustrated with his progress and the continuing failure, he had spent much of the past week wondering how he could possibly improve.

The answer had come to him rather simply; he was sitting under a tree trying to stick a leaf to his head with chakra when another landed on his nose and disrupted his control entirely. No longer was it an exercise in futility; he struggled with his chakra to hold the new leaf to his nose before finally they both blew off of his face from the irregularity of his chakra flow. His mind had wrapped around the issue for minutes, struggling to work out what had gone wrong before he finally realised what had happened.

Two leaves required divided attention in chakra control; one had to balance and regulate the flow of chakra around _two _objects rather than one. When he had stumbled across the solution he had been beyond ecstatic; not only could he increase his chakra control but he had a visible way to increase the difficulty - simply keep adding more leaves. It was genius! And they called him the dead last..._  
_

So here he was sitting in an abandoned and derelict training ground with at least a dozen leaves stuck all over his body, his chakra fluttering around his body desperately trying to ensure the greenery stuck to him. After holding the pose for at least an hour - which was like a super long time! - he finally disperesed his chakra and allowed the leaves to fall to the floor.

"I am so fucking awesome!" He grinned ear-to-ear.

Of course, if the boy had strained his ears slightly he would have heard the sputtered indignation of his ANBU handler hiding in the trees. The man was shocked and appalled by the vulgar language that had left the boy's mouth. Where on earth had he learnt words like... like _that_?! Recomposing himself, he allowed a small smirk to grace his lips as he realised the boy didn't dare to utter the obscenities in public and only had only said them when he was alone in an abandoned training field. It seemed the boy did have some sense of manners after all.

* * *

Naruto's next lesson came in the form of taijutsu training at the academy, although at the time he failed to realise the importance of what occurred.

Iruka had waited for the class to quieten before announcing, "Alright! Everyone outside, we're going to be sparring each other for the day!" A mad cacophony of sounds erupted as soon as he finished; sparring was practically the coolest thing ever in the eyes of the eight year olds - well, the boys at least. They would fight bravely and prove their metal against each other. Of course, all it ever ended up being was a massive ego trip for those who were talented and a taste of humble pie for those who struggled.

Naruto, contrary to what he believed, most certainly belonged in the second group. While other students practiced the strict academy taijutsu style he would skip the lesson to either pull a prank or slip out of grip of his ANBU followers. This resulted in the boy learning the taijutsu style in a hacked up, half-developed way. And with the already obvious neglect he experienced at the hands of his instructors this meant he struggled to even fight, let alone win.

Regardless, the blonde eight year old believed himself to be something of a super star when it came to anything in the shinobi arts and so when his name was called to face off against Kiba he strutted into the small circular boundary the teachers had created with an air of confidence that was hardly justified. His opponent sneered at him in distaste, already believing himself victorious, which only made Naruto angry and thus more reckless.

"Wow, and I here I was wanting to _try_!" The Inuzuka taunted as they faced off.

Naruto growled in response, "Shut up dog-breath! I'm gonna kick your ass!" The crowd of students and instructors watched the exchange in amusement; it was obvious Kiba would emerge victorious. The boy had the taijutsu of his clan to support him while Naruto slacked off to the point where he didn't even learn the basic academy style.

"Begin!" Iruka's exasperated voice cut through the air.

Kiba struck forwards first, fist reared back. Naruto moved quickly backwards to avoid the hit and then found himself having to move to the left to avoid a punch in his side. He jumped forwards at the Inuzuka in retaliation and tried to swipe him across the chin. The boy, rather than moving backwards, simply bent his head to the right to the hit missed entirely. Naruto's follow up kick ended in much the same way as he felt the boy's chest inches away from his foot.

Then everything went downhill. What had previously been a evenly-matched fight suddenly turned into a bloodbath; Kiba shot forwards and flung a fist at Naruto's face. Due to his short stature the blonde ducked. He was severely punished for such an action when Kiba's other hand struck his chin with a vicious uppercut. As he reeled backwards from the hit a kick struck his side and he fell to the floor, rolling in pain. Before Iruka could call the match he stood back up and ran at the dog-nin, enraged.

Kiba snorted and jumped to the right to avoid the charge before elbowing him in the back. As Naruto fell he was kicked in the side before finally being picked up and punched in the face so he flung across the circle, landing in a heap a few metres away. Iruka finally moved to hastily intervene and jumped between the two. He looked at Naruto's crumpled form before looking angrily at Kiba.

"That's enough Kiba!" He had exceeded the needed amount of force by far when he picked the boy up and punched him again. The dog-nin merely shrugged in response at his angry gaze before looking at Naruto with something akin to disappointment.

"He insulted me!" He grinned viciously, "Besides, it's not my fault he's dead last!" And it was true to a degree; any other child would have fought off the second barrage by Kiba easily and then tried to counter themselves. Of course, the dog-nin would have inevitably won almost any match he was faced off against considering his heavy reliance on taijutsu but the fact remained that almost every child in the class would have lasted longer than Naruto.

The blonde meanwhile, merely stood up and wiped the blonde coming out of his nose in frustration. Being defeated so quickly and in a way that was nothing short of a massacre did nothing to help his already wavering pride. His eyes darkened in shame as he saw the gazes of everyone around him; they all thought he was an idiot, that he was some sort of fool who was weak. Yes, being humbled darkened Naruto's attitude considerably for the day.

As the next two stood in the ring and Naruto limped away from the group who surely wouldn't accept him so he could sit under one of the nearby trees, he forced his thoughts away from the spectacle in front of him. While his ego burned and his pride disintegrated he knew he couldn't dwell on the match too much or his anger would fester and he'd be forced to take it out on someone, probably Kiba. While the boy was an asshole and had humiliated him Naruto wasn't so shallow as to punish him for his own mistakes. If there was one lesson he had learnt in the whole fight it was that he was, well, shit and it was his _own _fault.

So he sat and pondered on his shortcomings silently for the rest of the practice and Konoha sighed in relief; they wouldn't be tasting Naruto's pranks for a few days.

* * *

Naruto walked out of the academy and groaned in anger as he realised an ANBU immediately tagged onto him once he was out of the boundary of the institution. Normally he wouldn't care too much that he was being followed but he was still feeling the shame of his match with Kiba so his usual exuberant temperament was subdued. He ignored the masked man slinking in the trees near him and instead focused on the task that he had set himself for the day.

He was going to sneak into the library again and go to the section that contained information on Sasori. His progress in chakra control had slowed to a halt and he knew he needed to work on some other stuff while he waited to be taught a newer chakra control exercise by the academy. So he had resolved to sneak into the library and resume his research in puppetry itself, rather than the technique required.

Once he decided to do so he flung his mind back to the first time he had been in the library and tried to remember the books surrounding the subject. He knew that he had been very lucky last time to not be caught and thrown our so he resolved this time to grab a book and sneak out quickly. He'd read it elsewhere; preferably somewhere safe and sparsely populated.

He soon found himself out the front of the library and it's double doors. Sneaking in quietly, he slipped past the front desk by traveling through several deserted sections. If there was one thing Naruto was good at, it was being sneaky. All the pranks he did required such expertise and his chest filled with pride as he thought about his talents in the area.

Before he could think too much about how great he was - he had time to do that later! - he found himself in front of the section that contained information surrounding Sasori. He slipped up next to it and began to shuffle through the books at a rapid pace; he had to be quick about it or he'd be found by a librarian or worse... A shinobi.

_'Catalogue of Akasuna no Sasori's known poisons - nah, boring. The Puppet Brigade and it's Champions - nah, too big... Sasori and Sealing - Pfft, sealing... Hah!' _Naruto grew frustrated as he read the names of the books; none of them were cool! None at all. He began to sweat in fear as he realised if he didn't moved soon someone was bound to catch him in the act. His fingers fluttered through the numerous books and he swore in frustration as he saw the names - they were all either boring or complicated.

Wait...

"_The Principles of Puppetry: An Eternal Art_ by Akasuna no Sasori!" The boy whispered to himself in excitement. This looked good _and _it was written by the man himself! He grabbed the book quickly and shoved it into his bag before moving the books he had previously looked at back into their usual place. Satisfied with his work, the boy snuck away from the section quickly and moved toward the exit. Keeping his eyes on the librarian at the front desk, he discreetly slipped out of the building and moved into a nearby alley. As soon as he felt safe he let out a whoop of joy - he had succeeded in his mission! If he pretended the book was some secret enemy documents and the librarians were some evil Iwa shinobi then he'd pretty much pulled off a search and retrieve or - or! - a spying mission. Man he was so cool!

His happiness was quickly dispelled when he noticed the presence of his ANBU handler. Ignoring the man, he began to walk back to his apartment at a sedated pace. Not for the first time in the day, he thanked the fact that his followers was too lazy to enter the library himself and thus allowed Naruto to get away with the crime of stealing the book. Well, it wasn't _really _a crime if he gave it back was it? Libraries are there to borrow books anyway!

As he walked slowly he didn't know why he wondered why he felt the need to act so glum in front of the ANBU; usually he'd just continue on his merry way and not care in the slightest. Today however, he felt guarded, as if he needed to hide his success from the man. And so he did, walking through the streets quietly and seemingly without the slightest hint of joy while internally he grew excited at the very _idea _of being able to read his new precious book.

He soon found himself rounding a bend he knew very well; the final corner before he reached his admittedly sub-par apartment complex. With home in his sights and success within his grasp Naruto allowed a small grin to show on his face. He ran quickly into the building and up the stairs before finally reaching his door. His movement frustrated the few other occupants to no end, with mutters of 'demon brat' 'stupid monster' and the like being ignored by the boy in favor of hastily unlocking his door.

As soon as he entered his apartment he let his full happiness show; a shit-eating grin extended across his face and he weaved through the countless discarded items on the floor in his building. As he moved he quickly grabbed several discarded ramen cups and threw them in the bin. Unfortunately, being both alone and ignored meant Naruto never developed a particularly effective sense of cleanliness. To him, his home of discarded clothes and trashpiles was no different to the picture perfect cleanliness of, say, the Hyuuga compound. He didn't feel there was any need to spend time on the upkeep of his apartment and so it built progressively to a point where he _had _to remove some of the crap littering the room. He was in luck however, as right now the place wasn't _too _bad.

He quickly reached his couch and he hoped onto it with a sight of contentment before slipping his hands into his bag and pulling out his stolen - sorry, _borrowed _- copy of Sasori's book. He felt the cover of it slowly and let his excitement build as his mind raced ahead to try and think of all the possible things that he could learn from the book. He ripped it open madly and began to read the first page, bobbing up and down on the couch as he did so.

* * *

"I trust your mission was successful, Fly?" Fly, what an appropriate name for the man who stuck to the wall every day to watch a single individual. Sarutobi would chuckle at his own wit if he wasn't currently debriefing the poor man. And he didn't call the man's situation poor lightly - over the past few years guard detail for Naruto had become something of an infamous mission in ANBU; the boy would constantly escape or cause trouble that resulted in the ire of an otherwise emotionally stunted organisation.

"Actually Hokage-sama," The man began hesitantly, "The boy did something quite, erm, _odd_." Sarutobi's interest was immediately piqued as the man spoke; Naruto had become nothing if not predictable in the recent few years. If predictable meant escaping from his handlers and causing mischief, that is. To say he did something out of the ordinary would mean the boy probably did something quite the opposite... God forbid if the child actually _did _his homework.

"Odd you say?" His kind tone was dismissed under the almost demanding gaze he gave the boy.

The man shuffled nervously, "Yes, well he, um, he went to the _library_." There was a moment of silence in the room as the venerable leader stared at his soldier silently before he began to laugh lightly. Any other child and one would say it was a good thing that they went to the library. Uzumaki Naruto... Well it meant he either thought there were cool jutsu in there or he was up to something. Knowing the boy as he did, he had a feeling it was the latter.

"I can see why you might be concerned." He smiled at the man, "I'm sure he's not up to anything _too _drastic but see to it that the staff are informed just in case." It wouldn't do for the man to have a civilian librarian moaning to him in his office in a few days time with dyed orange hair. No, better to get an umbrella before it starts raining, "Otherwise, I'm satisfied. You're dismissed."

"As you wish, Hokage-sama." The man bowed low before slipping out of the room and leaving the Sandaime to himself.

As the man sat and pondered the blonde-haired troublemaker his thoughts never once touched on the idea that Naruto might struggle to get in the building due to the heightened awareness of the librarians caused by their warning.

* * *

Well that settled it.

Sasori's book was the single most complicated thing Naruto had ever tried to read. And it was only the _basics_! He shuddered to think what the man wrote on the advanced skills of puppetry. The way the redhead wrote was both dull and detailed, something that preyed directly on the blonde's weaknesses; he had an incredibly short attention span _and _he hated reading with a passion. Needless to say, despite his best attempts to read the book on his couch for hours he had yet to get anything useful out of it.

He was, rather justifiably, disheartened by such a lack of progress. Just when he thought he had taken his first steps toward learning about the art he hit a roadblock. It was funny really, that his reading ability was holding him back. It wasn't so much that what the man said didn't make sense so much as every second word didn't; the boy knew if he could understand the words he'd be able to follow the text pretty well but... He couldn't.

It wasn't all bad news however; despite the convoluted and confusing statements that Sasori liked to say Naruto did grasp one valuable lesson in it all.

_"The asinine desire to attain mastery over a single branch of the shinobi arts, while seemingly admirable, only leads to a stunted skill-set. Not only does it inhibit the way an individual can approach any situation but it also makes one habitual and it is through this repetitious behavior that one becomes predictable and thus assailable."_

The passage continued on in the same vein and, after having pulled out a dictionary to work out the meaning of several words, Naruto managed to work out what it was saying: Being good at only one thing is bad.

Sasori of course described it in a much more complicated and cold way that Naruto was quickly growing used to. The man had a particular style to writing that both insulted the reader and elevated the writer. Naruto had lost count of how many times the book made him feel stupid, and not just from it's complicated nature. He was geniunely embarrassed when the book would spell out countless things that Naruto abided by as 'weak' and 'foolish'. If he didn't know any better he'd think the book was written specifically to demean him.

The boy had long since decided that if he were to abide by the rules and guidelines that Sasori revealed in his book that he'd have to spend countless hours translating them so he could actually _follow _them with a sense of sincerity. Because of this, Naruto pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and decided to write down the first golden rule that Sasori had given him;

**Naruto's Super Awesome Rules of Puppetry and Other Stuff!**

_1. A specialized shinobi is a dead shinobi._

To his juvenile mind his rule was a _much _better way to describe what Sasori was trying to say. As he finished writing he grinned madly and flourished his wrist dramatically. He was eight years old and already writing pearls of wisdom to the younger generations...

"I'm so cool." He muttered as he smirked at his achievement. Not only did he manage to work out what Sasori meant but he also started his own rules! Man, he was gonna be so famous one day. He shook his head to dismiss thoughts of hordes of fans and world domination to instead focus back on his current task. Looking at the book, he decided that working out that rule was good enough for the day. He packed his stuff up quickly and put them away before standing with a grin on his face and moving to his next objective of the day.

Time for a visit to Jiji! He needed to see if the old guy could help him with his chakra control.

* * *

A loud crash was his only warning before an orange and yellow bundle smashed through the doors to his office. The multi-coloured thing landed in a heap, limbs sticking out at awkward angles. The Sandaime would be appropriately amused by such a sight if he wasn't already so frustrated; he was _not _in the mood for Naruto right now. Regardless, he mustered a benevolent smile on his face and watched as the boy untangled himself and stood up slowly.

A screech could be heard in the distance before a head popped into his doorway, "I'm so Hokage-sama, it's just he... I don't know how he does it!" His secretary babbled as she spoke, mortified that she had failed at her job to keep people out of his office. What was worse was that she had lost to an _eight year old_. The subject of her ire turned around and grinned at her before sticking his tongue out.

"It's cause I'm awesome!" He boasted proudly while puffing his chest up, "Aren't I Jiji?" He grinned and turned to his grandfather in all but blood.

The man in question merely stared pointedly at the child before rubbing his forehead in consternation, "I'm glad you've come to see me," Not really, "But you really must stop terrifying my poor staff." And stop bothering him.

"Huh?" His eyes scrunched in confusion.

Sarutobi sighed, "While I appreciated the _enthusiasm _for your visits could you try to tone down your entrances?" He smiled softly, "A good start would be to _ask _if you could be let in. I'm sure Masuyo-chan would appreciate it..."**  
**

The woman sputtered quickly, "Oh! Yes of course." She glared at Naruto, "You make my job hard you know?"

"Ano, I'm sorry." The boy had the decency to look abashed although the twinkle of mischief in his eyes didn't go unnoticed by the Hokage.

"I forgive you Naruto, just... Try to calm down a little." She smiled softly at the boy. The woman knew any sign of bias against the child would result in her losing her job. Not that she saw the boy as the fox or anything as equally foolish, but after the previous secretary had refused Naruto entry for several weeks without the Sandaime's knowledge he had become much more harsh on any signs of such idiocy.

The boy nodded enthusiastically at the woman, "I will, I will!" His face turned to the only other person in the room and Masuyo took it as her sign to leave the room, slipping out of the doorway, "Now... Jiji?" His eyes morphed into polite, soft orbs and the man grew suspicious at the sight. He knew that look; the boy wanted something.

"Hmm?" He waited for the child to voice his request.

He smiled nervously, "Well you know chakra control?" The man snorted; did he know chakra control? Ha. "I've been trying to get better but, uh, I just can't seem to with the leaf exercise. So I was wondering..." He paused and looked at the man with pleading eyes, "DoyouknowanyotherexercisesIc anuse?" The man's eyes almost bulged at the speed that Naruto spoke. He took a few moments to decipher the full contents of the sentence before finally deciding what to say.

"Naruto, you know I can't teach you anything; it'd be unfair." Of course, he didn't mention that it was one of the sanctions the council had placed upon the boy.

The blonde smirked as he spoke, "You don't have to teach me though, that's whats so cool!" The Hokage raised an eyebrow, "If you can just give me a scroll like you did last time I'll teach myself!" He grinned from ear-to-ear, over the moon with his genius plan.

"Naruto..." The Sandaime sighed; he couldn't give the boy too much support or he'd never hear the end of it, "I'm sorry but I won't do that. That's what the academy is for." At the boy's crestfallen face the man winced before adding, "Why don't you ask Iruka?"

The boy nodded half-heartedly, "I guess." He forced a smiled onto his face, his eyes squinted to hide what was shown in them, "Well thanks anyway Jiji! I'll leave you alone now." As the boy left the Hokage rubbed his forehead not from frustration but from sadness; it was obvious to him that the smile was fake but the boy refused to show his pain to anyone.

* * *

The blonde-haired child strutted confidently to the academy with a grin plastered over his face. There was very little that could make Uzumaki Naruto as excited as he was right now. The reason for his bubbling happiness was simple; yesterday Iruka had told them they were going to be learning their first ninjutsu. Well, first jutsu from the academy. The blonde knew that all the clan families probably knew their own specific ninjutsu while the civilian children could go into the library without fear of reprisal but he didn't let the grin slip from his face because of such thoughts. Nothing could get him down right now.

He soon found himself in front of the imposing academy building and so slipped inside quickly before barreling through the door to his class in excitement. Iruka looked up from his desk in exasperation while the few students who were here ahead of him snorted at his interest. He ignored them and quickly moved to take his place in the back right corner of the room. Iruka waved a greeting to him but he avoided replying.

Naruto always made sure to get to the academy either early or late. That way he could avoid the rush of families dropping off their children. He knew Sasuke now did the same, arriving before anyone else in the room so he didn't have to see what he had lost in the form of parents saying their goodbyes to the children. Naruto didn't just come early or late to avoid growing jealous however; he also did it to avoid the whispers and comments that always followed his appearance in an area with adults.

As he pulled his mind away from such dark thoughts he realised the classroom had already filled quickly to the point where even his partner-in-slacking, Shikamaru, was sitting beside him with his head tilted in a quiet yawn. The two weren't exactly friends per say, it was more that the two wished to both avoid the front of the classroom and Sasuke who sat in the left corner of the room. That left them with few options other then to sit next to each other. Although Naruto did know that the boy held no ill will to him. In fact, he could remember overhearing Shikamaru and his father talking about him one day out the front of the academy:

_"Why does everyone say he's so bad?" Shikamaru gestured at Naruto discreetly, "I don't understand."_

_Shikaku stared down at his son intently, "Shikamaru, don't listen to the other kids; you're better than that. You should always form your own opinion." The man's serious tone wasn't lost on the boy in front of him who was used to his father's lazy disinterest._

_Shikamaru nodded slowly, "I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Tch! Troublesome." Shikaku looked at his son with a wide grin and ruffled his hair. If his mother heard their son say that word he knew he'd be in the doghouse for a while._

While not exactly a shining description of him, Naruto was thankful that the man at least gave him a chance. He treated him like no other child and for that he was grateful. He also knew that Shikamaru had done just as he had been told and, in his own way, shown he didn't agree with the collective populace. He wouldn't necessarily 'hang out' with the blonde but he'd always wave back a greeting or reply to anything Naruto said to him.

Naruto forced his focus back to the front of the room where Iruka had just finished giving the background info on the henge, "Now you guys can all give it a go! Grab one of the scrolls from the front that explain how to do the technique and then feel free to break off into groups and try it. I'll come around and inspect your progress."

As soon as he finished the class all jumped up out of their seats and rushed to the front to grab a scroll, excited by the idea of performing their first jutsu. Naruto himself was near the front of the line despite having started at the back of the classroom. He quickly grabbed a scroll before moving back to his seat to read over it. As soon as he landed in his seat he began to skim over it quickly. When he finished Shikamaru had just returned from the front of the room and moved to sit down. As he got in his seat the shadow-user let out a loud sigh of relief before throwing the scroll at the desk and leaning back to go to sleep.

Naruto realised the boy must have already learnt the henge at home and for a moment a sliver of jealousy struck his heart before he ruthlessly squashed it and returned his focus to the scroll. He read it again. And again. And again. Finally, he was satisfied with his understanding of the jutsu and how it worked so he stood slowly and moved to the open area in between his desk and the middle desks.

He flashed through the handseals:

Dog! - Boar! - Ram!

_'Visualize. Compress. Expel.' _He remembered the line in the scroll as he forced his chakra out to coat around his body.

"Henge no Jutsu!" There was a puff of smoke and in place of where an eight year old blonde boy stood a small, deformed looking Iruka with huge arms and tiny legs. As he struggled with his ugly form Naruto heard a snort from the right of him and looked over to see Shikamaru looking at him with a bemused smirk. Scowling, Naruto quickly dispelled the illusion.

Before he could try again the boy beside him interrupted, "You're using too much chakra." He yawned as he spoke, "Try to reduce the flow." Naruto looked at him in surprise for a moment; it wasn't like Shikamaru to offer help. Hell, it wasn't like Shikamaru to be _awake_. Regardless, the blonde nodded in thanks to the other boy.

"Oh! Ok, thanks!" His exuberant voice made Shikamaru groan and cover his ears. The boy then turned in his seat away from Naruto presumably so he could sleep easier. Naruto could swear he heard 'loud' and 'troublesome' being muttered as the boy did so but ignored it; he _had _helped him after all. He returned his focus to jutus in question and flashed through the handseals again.

"Henge no Jutsu!" With the reduced levels of chakra Naruto was able to form a much better version of Iruka; the clone was appropriately size, with a bit of his colouring in the clothes off. Grinning madly, the blonde realised he could have the jutsu mastered in a few days - maybe even by the end of the day! He was so damn awesome!

"At least he doesn't look like a goblin now." Shikamaru muttered behind him. Naruto whipped his hear around to look at the boy, a retort ready on the tip of his tongue, only to stop as he saw the boy's mirthful expression; he was _joking_.

"Don't you have a desk to sleep on or something?" He replied with a smirk on his face.

The other boy just grinned, "You're _very _interesting, Uzumaki Naruto."

* * *

**A/N: I know I shouldn't start ANOTHER story but this is probably the thing I want to do the most - I'm super excited by the idea of doing it and if you guys like it I'll happily start it up. It's heavily inspired by the story 'Scorpion's Disciple' - now that is a masterpiece - but I won't be having Sasori helping Naruto in his training personally. Certainly, the boy will learn from books by the man and the stories surrounding him but there won't be any of that 'redhead strolls into Konoha, decides to make Naruto his apprentice' stuff. No, I'd like to make this a little more unique.**

**I would say that he'd develop the skill as Sasori did - simply being shown the basics and then everything building from there. He'd do it on his own and because of this he wouldn't be at Sasori's level until at least AFTER the timeskip. Well, that'd be my realistic thoughts.**

**This is going to be fairly slow in build-up. I'm aiming for a chapter for every year until canon kicks in. This is probably the story I enjoy writing the most right now; I just love the idea of a Puppet!Naruto. BUT the updates will be slow due to the size of the chapters - I want to say two a month but I'm not really sure how I'll go so yeah...**

**I also really need help with the name of this fanfic - the current one is essentially a placeholder because can't think of ANYTHING good. Feel free to let me know about any ideas.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Please read and review!**


	2. Chaos Incarnate

**Pulling Your Own Strings**

_Chapter 2: Chaos Incarnate_

* * *

**|Eight Years Old|**_  
_

Naruto knew that his first year at the academy was rapidly coming to a close. With this came the grim realisation that despite two months of knowing about puppetry he had made little to no progress whatsoever in the art. Normally he wouldn't be bothered by such a thing. After all, he failed tests all the time and he'd probably be failing this year; while Naruto was naïve he wasn't _stupid_. What he had achieved in the year was nowhere near enough to warrant a passing grade.

Puppetry however, was different. It wasn't some passing thing that he had put half a weeks worth of effort into only to lose interest at the first signs of a lack of progress. He had been at the leaf exercise for _months_. With that came an understandable despondency that was unlike Naruto's usual attitude. Upon realising he wasn't advancing the boy had done the smart thing and sought out advice. This had failed spectacularly, the person he trusted the most had refused him and discarded him like an unworthy subject.

While the man's intentions hadn't been to do so he had forgotten he was dealing with an eight year old who had severe abandonment and trust issues. From his days in the orphanage to when he had been looked after by a full-time carer, he had been ignored or, in the case of the carer, seen only as a mission. As soon as they could everyone who he began to trust left him. This generated a deep sense of paranoia to the point where the boy put absolute faith into almost anyone he met, both as a way to hopefully restore the bonds that had so easily been broken and to ensure that if one person left him he _always _had another. When he was younger he had the Inu ANBU member who would sometimes leave gifts and say kind words to him.

That man left quickly however and now, at the age of eight, he found himself with only the Sandaime. Considering the fear that the boy had surrounding trust it was no surprise he had abandonment issues; at the first sign of trouble he instantly assumed the person in question was leaving him - discarding him. Because of this, when the Hokage had refused to help him the trust the boy had in the man had dropped considerably. He didn't loathe the man - far from it! - he just expected the man to leave him at any small whim.

So now, with himself seemingly alone, the boy thrust all his focus and desire onto one thing; Puppetry. While it certainly wasn't healthy, it was the only way he felt _safe _in his own skin but now, with a lack of progress, despair was brewing in his stomach and his usual unflappable attitude was taking a severe nose-dive - to the point where the vicious words in the classroom that he would so often ignore and laugh at were now beginning to affect him. Out of desperation to fix his abysmal chakra control the boy decided that he would ask the only person he could for help.

Iruka wasn't like the other instructors, that much was obvious. When the others would spit as he passed them and deliberately ignore his questions the man would treat him neutrally and _always _answer anything he asked about - if he could. Despite this, it was obvious the man forced himself to do so and for that Naruto didn't exactly place much faith in him. But still, he was the only one he had left to ask and so, when the bell rang and every student rushed out of the class, Naruto stayed behind and was greeted with the sight of Iruka nervously shuffling papers at his desk and Sasuke slowly rising to leave. He knew the Uchiha bastard would never leave school on time for the same reason that Naruto would usually be the first out; to avoid the rush of parents and families. Shaking his head to dismiss his thoughts, Naruto rose and moved toward Iruka.

At the first sign of Naruto walking toward him Iruka's brain went into overdrive. Why in the world would the Kyuubi brat want to talk to him? He shivered in fear when he thought that perhaps he was about to be pranked but quickly discarded such a notion; the boy was nothing if not sneaky when he participated in the foolish endeavors. He wondered if the boy might be wanting to quit as he had seen the way the boy was spiraling into depression and the kinder, less biased part of him felt horrible for the child.

When the boy finally arrived at his desk Iruka forced a smile and asked, "What can I do for you Naruto?" The boy hesitated as he spoke, his feet dragging behind him.

"I-Is there any other chakra control exercises I can use?" He replied nervously and scratched the back of his head while shifting side to side.

Iruka's brow furrowed, "There _are_," The boy's face lit up, "However we're not meant to teach them to you; it's both too advanced and an integral part of future studies." Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion as he rethought the sentence several times before finally working out what the man said. His face fell immediately. Iruka quickly added, "Sorry."

"S'ok, I didn't expect much. Thanks, sensei." The boy replied softly before turning to leave the quiet classroom.

At the sight of the boy's saddened expression Iruka interrupted his exit, "You could find them in written form at the library though!" His voice rose as he tried to stop the boy from leaving. And that he did, the blonde head bobbing back around with a hesitant smile, "And there aren't any rules about that." The boy's smile grew into a full grin.

"Aww, thanks sensei!" He almost shouted. Iruka felt a flutter in his chest and it was then he realised how much better his job was when Naruto was exuberant and happy.

* * *

Naruto had a mad grin on his face as he waltzed happily through the village. And why shouldn't he? After weeks of desperate searching he had finally found out where the solution for his chakra control problem could be found; the library. Normally he would have been repulsed by the very idea of going to such a boring place but he had long since realised the value of the institution thanks to the book's surrounding Sasori. That wasn't to say he'd be going there every day however. No, Naruto still valued his sanity.

The Konoha Library itself was an impressive building; established by the Nidaime Hokage during his revolution of shinobi studies that resulted in the creation of the Academy as well, it stretched out several blocks and had countless different sections. Naruto, as an academy student, had access to the public sections. Obviously what he could learn about was extremely limited and he knew he'd have to wait until he was a genin to be able to get any worthwhile jutsu. After genin however, everything was a mystery in and of itself. The stronger shinobi never even hinted at what was held in the more restricted sections.

Of course, the building was utterly useless to someone like Naruto who was promptly thrown out as soon as they put a foot in the door. To combat this the boy had learnt to sneak into the public sections and avoid the librarians. The cost of this was that he instead had to _steal _the books as he couldn't walk up to them and ask to borrow any. If he were caught in the act the boy knew the punishment was be quite severe and so always felt a degree of fear when he entered the building.

He soon found himself in front of the imposing buildings and slipped through the entrance discreetly. Just like he had learnt, he waited until a large crowd was bustling near the desk before trying to move past them. Unfortunately for him, he was stopped in his tracks by the sight of an incredibly angry looking woman. She stared at the little boy in something akin to contempt for a moment before finally opening her mouth.

"Hokage-sama warned us about your plotting," She smirked at the sight of the terrified boy, "I don't care what you think you're up to in here and I don't even want to know if I'm perfectly honest..." She paused before gesticulating wildly at the door, "All I know is that I want you out."

Naruto was confused, "W-Wha-"

"I said out! Out!" At this she grabbed the scruff of his neck and pushed him past the crowd at the desk, a few smirking at the sight while other simply sighed in exasperation; Naruto being caught midway through a prank was a common occurrence in the village. She thrust him out of the door and as the boy struggled to regain his balance the woman added, "Now I don't want to see you here again, you rotten child!" She huffed before turning and reentering the building.

Naruto meanwhile, was shocked. The woman hadn't indicated that her attitude was anything to do with whatever the people of the village seemed to hate him for. In fact, it seemed like she hated him because of his pranks; she was scared of him doing it to her. It was disconcerting for the boy to realise that for once in his life _his _actions had caused someone to fear him. He didn't like it.

Another much more obvious issue was the fact that he could no longer get in the library. And apparently it was because of the Sandaime; someone he thought protected and loved him. Naruto didn't know what the wizened man was up to but he didn't like it. Not only was he denied his teachings but also the right to learn... There was no one left for him to ask and the little freedom he had experienced by going to the library was gone - stolen from him.

He stood slowly from where he had been knocked down, knees shaking from both nervousness and fear; what could he do now?! His eyes darted around to see the numerous people of Konoha either ignoring him or sneering at his unfortunate encounter with the librarian. He stood and ran. Ran far, far away. Within minutes he had stumbled on a training ground rarely used and he quickly stumbled to a tree before collapsing against it's surface.

There was a moment of silence before he finally threw a punch against the tree viciously. As it impacted against the tree he could feel the bones in his hand crack and break from the force. He flinched from the pain before collapsing to the ground and cradling his hand. Great, now he had no one he could trust, nowhere he could learn and a broken fucking hand!

"Damnit!" He swore in frustration before lowering his head as he leaned his back on the tree. His breathing was getting shallower and he could feel the stress of the day beginning to seep into his lungs. He began to take shorter breaths and quickened the pace. As he began to hyperventilate he missed the shadowy figure that had been watching him slipping away into the treeline, heading toward the Hokage Tower.

_'Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohg-'_ He slapped himself across the face with his good hand and the panic attack receded quickly. When he was younger he used to experience such things all the time; he'd get into his apartment only to see messages sprawled across his wall in pigs blood. Then he'd collapse on his couch and he'd begin to hyperventilate. But now was different! He wasn't six years old anymore! He refused to lose control of himself - he was Uzumaki Naruto and he wasn't going to let a small setback like this stop him! Now, what do you do when you encounter a problem? You fix it - which he certainly couldn't do - or you find a way around it.

The problem was him; if they saw him then he'd get thrown out of the library. If they saw _him_...

Naruto grinned.

He knew _just _what he could do.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked up from the papers he had been signing as a figure knocked on the door. He shuffled the documents away and out of sight before moving around on his seat to allow himself to look presentable.

"Come in." He announced loudly. The door swung open and an ANBU figure walked in quietly. From one look at his mask it was obvious who this man was; Fly. He sighed in consternation, "What has he done _now_?" As soon as he spoke the man in front of him shuffled nervously and the Hokage found himself growing concerned; this type of attitude wasn't usually applied to a situation when Naruto pranked, "Has something happened Fly?" He asked the question softly but the commanding tone was obvious enough.

The mask looked up at him as he spoke, "Hai. He um... Well he..." Fly stumbled for words and the Sandaime felt his stomach drop slightly.

"Was he assaulted again?" He didn't dare ask the question; he thought the village had grown out of their foolish attempts.

The ANBU member looked up quickly, "Well, sort of - but that's not the problem." Ok, now he was worried, "A librarian pushed him out of the building rather harshly but it was what happened _afterwards _that's made me come see you."

"Spit it out Fly, I'm sure I can handle it."

"Well he, ah, ran away to a training ground and sat down silently for a bit before he, um, well, he sort of lost control of himself and punched a tree." The Hokage raised an eyebrow, that wasn't _that _bad, "I'm fairly sure he broke his hand. After that he began to have a panic attack and sort of curled in on himself." Ok, that _was _worrying. The last time the boy had a panic attack he spiraled into depression that took the best efforts of the Hokage to pull him out of. "Hokage-sama?" Sarutobi gestured for him to speak, "I think that, well, we caused it."

"What?" He was understandably confused.

"He was trying to go into the library but when he was forced out the librarian said _you _told her about him." The man was incredibly nervous as he spoke and the Sandaime didn't blame him. To insinuate that his leader was at fault wasn't a position anyone wanted to be in. Regardless, it seemed the man was right; the boy obviously felt betrayed.

He rubbed his temple in stress, "You may leave, Fly. I'll think of something to fix this - I always do." And it was true; if there was one thing that was obvious about Naruto it was that he was easily swayed. The man would just need to give him something he wanted.

* * *

A small, brown-haired boy with green eyes approached the library calmly, his arms swinging by his side as a show of excitement. He quickly neared the doors and walked through the entrance before calmly striding up to the front desk. A civilian woman was situated at it and was reading a book while she relaxed in her chair. She tilted her head up at the sight of the boy and raised an eyebrow.

"Hi," She spoke pleasantly, "Can I help you?"

The boy nodded vigorously, "Hi! Someone told me if I come to the library I can learn about shinobi stuff!" He grinned as he spoke and the woman felt a smile touching her own lips; what a nice, young boy.

"You sure can. The library has anything you could ever think of." She gestured at the countless aisles, "Is there anything in particular you'd like to learn about?"

The brunette smiled, "Yeah, yeah! I wanna know about chakra control!" His boisterous voice was strangely endearing and the woman felt compelled to help him.

"Chakra control exercises are in the fourth row under 'c'." She smiled before pointing at a particular section, "See? Right there."

"Aww, sweet! Thanks!" At that the boy turned and headed toward the particular section as the woman watched his retreating form. He seemed like a good kid.

Naruto let out a vicious grin as he left the sight of the librarian. Who knew he'd be using the Henge already? A feeling of satisfaction washed over him, both for the success of the jutsu and the fact that he had managed to trick the woman at the desk. He quickly walked past the first few rows before entering the one the woman had mentioned, his brown hair - that was actually blonde - billowing from the fast movement. He dragged his left hand across the books as he searched for chakra control before finally finding a specific section of books that seemed to describe what he was interested in.

He flicked through the titles quickly before finally finding the aptly named, _Chakra Control Exercises: Beginner - Intermediate_. In it there was a description of chakra itself and why one should train to have better control over it. As he read Naruto realised it was precisely because of his large chakra reserves that he struggled so much with chakra control and, by proxy, chakra strings. Before he could continue to read the boy decided it'd be best if he left the library with the book conveniently _stored _under his shirt - It's borrowing, not stealing... _borrowing! _- and so he slipped out of the section and discreetly walked past the front desk. The woman smiled at him as he left and he smirked back, although she probably interpreted it as simple politeness.

While the thrill of success was rushing through him he was struck by something equally daunting; the harsh reality of his own personal situation was brought down on him as he walked. Through the use of henge he had been able to see the other side of the coin and see how others were treated in the village. It had been been enlightening to say the least. He now knew without a doubt that there was something seriously wrong going on under his nose. He knew it couldn't be anything he had done in his life; his pranks were relatively harmless and he hadn't harmed anyone to his knowledge.

Naruto rationalized that his family _must _have done something wrong. It was a disturbing conclusion to come to for an orphan; that not only had his parents abandoned him but that they had also wronged the village in some way to the point that everyone hated him yet he was kept in the dark about it. Needless to say, his desire to have parents had reduced to more of a desire to know what they had _done _to earn such ire.

Naruto shook his head to dismiss such dark thoughts and returned his focus to the book that he had under his shirt. He quickly returned to his apartment and opened the door. Striding in, he took his usual position on the couch before finally taking the book out and going back to the spot he had previously been reading from. It first discussed chakra itself and the implications 'better' control had over it before delving into the actual exercises one could use. The first listed was one already known to Naruto; the leaf concentration exercise. He flicked past the two pages describing it before coming upon another method of training for beginners; the tree-climbing exercise.

At first Naruto had snorted in humor at the idea of tree-climbing somehow helping his ability to harness chakra - he'd been a master of scaling walls and trees since he first began to sneak out of the orphanage. It was upon reading it in more detail that the boy realised the true value of the exercise. One didn't simply 'climb' trees; through the use of chakra one used only their feet to literally 'walk' up any flat surface. While not the _coolest _shinobi trick Naruto had ever read - that was reserved for puppetry, obviously! - he could easily see the value of it. He could apply it in a practical sense to get to certain areas faster heighten his ability to pull pranks - oh the pranks! If his chakra control increased then that was simply a nice byproduct.

Yes, the matter was settled; Uzumaki Naruto would be tree-climbing in no time. If not for the chakra control then at least for the pranks!

* * *

"Alright class, time for some sparring!" Iruka smiled as a collective cheer erupted from his class; eight year old's and their obsession with physical violence...

Naruto meanwhile, grinned madly. It had been a few months since his humiliating defeat to Kiba and it was finally time for him to regain some of that lost honor. He knew the dog-boy was probably second overall in taijutsu out of all the males in the class - females didn't matter as they didn't fight the opposite gender until the third year of the academy. The blonde walked behind the group of students as they left the classroom with a confident smirk on his face.

"Man, I hope I get Sasuke, I wanna beat that arrogant face in!" Kiba's boisterous voice pierced the air near Naruto and the blonde listening in slight interest.

"Considering the gap between yourself and Sasuke's skill such a desire is illogical." Shino's intoned quietly.

"Hey! Look, I'm glad you're talking and all now Shino but you gotta now when to shut up!" Kiba retorted angrily. The subject of his ire merely stared at him silently with an eyebrow raised as if to say 'are you really that much of an idiot'. Naruto grinned at the interaction. It was true that if Kiba were to be paired off against the Uchiha survivor then he'd be soundly beaten.

Fortunately for the dog-nin, his wishes were _not _granted, "Kiba and Shikamaru please step forward!" Iruka's requested enthusiastically. The two moved to do so although Shikamaru moved at a sedated speed compared to his counterpart, muttering about how 'troublesome' it was the whole way. As they faced off Kiba was grinning madly at his opponent and it was clear he was certain of victory. The Nara, to his credit, didn't seem even the slightest bit concerned.

"You may begin."

Kiba dashed forward and tried to punch the shadow-user in the stomach only for the boy to sidestep the hit. The dog-user then followed up with a left hook but Shikamaru merely leant back to avoid the fist before pushing the boy away from his personal space. As Kiba staggered backwards from the force of the push Shikamaru turned and gave a pointed look at Iruka before raising his hand.

"I forfeit." His hand was raised lazily. Iruka sputtered for a moment before sighing at the display; he was such a lazy boy - and he was winning too.

"Umm. Well done Kiba?" His confused tone described the collective attitude toward Shikamaru's forfeit. Even Kiba seemed surprised by the Nara's actions but took it in stride.

"Man, I'm just too good!" A few of the males in the class openly snorted as he spoke, amused by the suggestion that he had somehow forced Shikamaru to forfeit.

Iruka pinched his nose in distaste and returned to looking at his clipboard, "Uzumaki Naruto and..."

The boy grinned; time to make up for his last defeat against Kiba and show the world how good he truly was!

"Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto's grin fell quickly. He couldn't help but feel that taijutsu practice was being rigged in some way. Of all the people to face off against he had to get the only person who was _better _than Kiba. He walked into the ring and ignored the snickering of the students surrounding him. Sasuke himself walked in with his hands in his pockets and looked at him with a smirk on his face. As soon as he did so the eight year old blonde clenched his fists in fury; he _hated _that look - that he was unworthy; that he wasn't worthy the Uchiha's time. His previous fear evaporated quickly and he stepped up confidently in preparation to fight the raven-haired child opposing him.

"Begin!" Iruka stared at the face off nervously.

Sasuke stood on his heels silently as he waited for Naruto to make the first move. He was soon rewarded when the blonde shot forwards with his right fist cocked to punch the Uchiha in the face. The raven-haired youth easily avoided the attack by tilting his head to the left before slipping away from Naruto's now unbalanced figure and shooting his fist into the boy's stomach. The move was short, powerful and precise; the epitome of the boy's strict and regimented style. As the blond fell from the strike Sasuke whipped out aggressively with his right foot to land a kick in the stomach.

The blond rose shakily, blood dribbling out of his mouth, and attacked the Uchiha with renewed vigor Despite the ferocity of his assault the raven-haired boy was easily able to keep ahead of him with his superior speed and so when Naruto was once again knocked backwards from the hit he threw a hand out desperately in hope of hitting the boy. Sasuke caught the fist with his right hand and then caught Naruto's second fist with his left.

The two were in a deadlock but it was obvious to the spectators that Sasuke had the advantage; with his hands holding Naruto's fists the boy forced them to cross like a straight-jacket, essentially locking the blonde boy in place. Naruto panicked for a moment and wondered what he could do while Iruka moved to call the match. Before the chunin instructor could however, Naruto did something entirely unexpected.

Thrusting his head forward, the blond headbutted the Uchiha in the nose. Both were sent reeling and Naruto fell out of the ring, causing him to lose the match. It didn't matter to the boy though when he saw Sasuke shakily stand while holding a bloody nose. For a moment the two locked gazes and Sasuke's furious glare was enough to make Naruto smirk in reply.

"Winner: Uchiha Sasuke." The boy's happiness was short-lived as Iruka called out the victory to his opponent. Immediately, the girls who had been watching began to swoon over the raven-haired boy while Naruto scowled angrily and stalked off away from the spectacle. Before he could retreat from the view of everyone Kiba bounded over to him with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"I see you're still horrible, Uzumaki." The dog-user announced. Naruto growled in reply; the only reason Kiba would ever address someone by their family name was if he was insulting them, "I suppose you made up for it by rearranging that arrogant bastards face though!" The Inuzuka gave the blonde a thumbs up and Naruto stared blankly at the boy. Was a show of strength all it took to be Kiba's friend? He sure hoped not, it was such a shallow way of thinking. Regardless, he smiled back because it was true - seeing the Uchiha bleeding from his nose was an amazing sight for the males of the class.

"Yeah, well the asshole had it coming." Naruto replied angrily. His conversation had drawn the attention of Shikamaru who was watching the proceedings with obvious disinterest.

Before the Inuzuka could reply the shadow-user interrupted, "I don't really care all that much but if you two don't start paying attention to the spars then sensei is probably going to get troublesome so..." The unspoken request was obvious and, due to the boy's willingness to help Naruto previously, the blonde agreed, returning his gaze to the two new individuals fighting.

As he did so his mind inevitably returned to his own match. Ignoring the one hit he got on the Uchiha at the very end it had once again been a blood bath; Sasuke had ruthlessly shut down everything he tried to do before turning it against him and publicly embarrassing the blonde in front of everyone. Now, Naruto knew he wasn't a star of taijutsu - that much was obvious from when he fought Kiba - but to have his substandard skills thrown back in his face not once but _twice _meant that the boy felt something was seriously wrong with how he fought.

He didn't entirely understand either because if anything taijutsu should be one of the thing he was _good _at. The academy style was taught only in school and, unlike genjutsu and ninjutsu, didn't rely upon the advice of one's own family, friends or benefactors. It was a universal style that, when taught right, would require only practice to perfect. And Naruto had _definitely _practiced, which begged the question; _was _it taught right to him? The boy scowled as his mind suggested that perhaps he had been sabotaged once again in his life by outside sources before he shook his head in dismissal; the thought that the instructors were willing to go so far as to help him _die _out in the field simply because of what he assumed was something his parents did didn't sit well with him. It was surely his own mind playing tricks on him... Wasn't it?

* * *

Naruto jumped off of the tree with a cry as he landed in a heap at the base. He had been trying to do the tree-climbing exercise for several hours now and was struggling to reach much of a distance. Despite his meager progress he wasn't particularly dismayed as the book had explained that people who had large chakra reserves, to which he knew he himself was one, would often find the exercise difficult at first and there would be little progress for at least a few days. Because of this knowledge his few steps on the bark of the tree enlarged into an even greater achievement in his mind and he felt satisfied with the work he had done.

The blonde sighed in contentment as he sat at the base of the tree to catch his breath. As he relaxed his mind went back to the recent spar he had with Sasuke and the realisation he had come to surrounding his own skill. His taijutsu, whether through a fault of his own or specific sabotage by the chunin instructors, was horrible - and he needed to do something about it. A particular line came to his mind as he pondered his ability:

_"A specialized shinobi is a dead shinobi."_

Naruto frowned as he remembered his own rule that he had made. Was he so foolish that he wouldn't even abide by the guidelines he had set for himself? While he wasn't necessarily 'specialized' in a particular area he had certainly neglected his taijutsu - to the point where he could be easily defeated twice in a row. He obviously needed to patch up his skills and what better time to start then now?

Standing up briskly, Naruto wandered over to one of the log posts in the training field he had been using. He looked at it for a moment before deciding to work through the individual stances over and over until he felt satisfied with how they looked and felt. He slipped into a specific stance that used his legs to shoot forwards and land a punch in the stomach of opponent; in this case, the training log. He repeated this action again, trying to increase the speed.

This process continued for half an hour as Naruto went over every part of the Academy Style in order to fix whatever problem was causing him to lose his matches. As the sun began to dip in the horizon the boy forced himself on, sweating from the late afternoon heat and panting from exhaustion. He landed a final hit on the training log before finally allowing his fatigue to claim him and collapsing to the floor.

As he lay on the ground heaving breaths a voice interrupted the quiet air around the training ground, "Yosh! Such admirable training!" Before the blonde even had a chance to work out where the voice came from and individual blurred in front of him. The man was wearing a green spandex suit and a chunin vest on top. His headband was wrapped around his stomach like a belt but it was his hair that was the oddest part of his appearance; the man had a perfect bowl-cut that complimented a pair of huge eyebrows.

"W-Wha-" Naruto was both terrified _and _amazed by the man's appearance - he had literally appeared out of thing air.

"I'm sorry to say however, that your youthful display is all for naught." Naruto stared in complete confusion as he spoke, "Your wonderful hard work is ruined by the imperfections in your stances! But do not fear, Konoha's Green Beast shall help you fan your fires of youth!" Naruto's face morphed first from anger at the insult toward his taijutsu to complete and utter horror as the man struck a pose while introducing himself.

"Who are you?" Naruto tilted his head, "And what do ya 'imperfections?!" His voice was tinged in frustration at both the man's incredibly weird appearance and the derogatory comment toward his training.

"Yosh! I am the incredible taijutsu specialist of Konoha, Maito Gai!"

"Naruto." The blonde quickly interjected.

The man smiled at his reply, "Well, Naruto-kun... I shall help you in your wondrous endeavor to master the Academy Style!"

Naruto gave him a suspicious glance, "Why would you help _me_?" The paranoia was justified; no one helped him unless they had an ulterior motive. Gai merely grinned in response.

"It's only right that I help a comrade such as you in their battle for the power of youth!"

_'Ok, what the hell?'_ Naruto was officially terrified. "You'll really help me?"

The man gave a beaming smile and a thumbs up as he spoke, "Of course! If I don't succeed in making you a master of the Academy Style then I shall do 500 push-ups and 500 sit-ups!"

"What's in it for you?" Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"I saw the effort you put into your training, despite the issues you were facing... It filled me with such passion!" Naruto shivered in fear as the man jumped from side to side while speaking, "As a fellow genius of hard work it is my _duty _to ensure you achieve the beautiful victory you so very much desire!"

Naruto stared at the man for a moment, "Uh, thanks?" The man grinned and the blonde could swear he saw his teeth _glitter _as he struck the pose. "So, uh, when do we start?"

"Yosh! Now! let us begin with a most youthful display of laps!" At this the man began to joke on the spot and gesture for Naruto to follow him.

"Nani!?"

"The power of the body decides the power of the style! We'll start with an easy ten... No! Twenty... No! Thirty Laps around the training field!" At this he dragged Naruto by the arm and pushed him to start running. Under pressure from the older shinobi and with nowhere to escape, the blonde did as asked and started to run.

As he moved one thought ran through Naruto's mind, _'What have I gotten myself into?'_

* * *

**|Nine Years Old|**

It was with a large sense of relief that Naruto closed the door of his apartment behind him as he entered his apartment. He collapsed onto the couch with a groan before stretching his legs out in an effort to remove some of the tightness in his muscles caused by the vicious workout he had been through during the day. He had little luck with the endeavor however, his muscles screaming in protest at the movement.

It had been two weeks - two _whole _weeks - since Gai had taken an interest in him. True to his word, the man would _always _appear at the training ground they had met every day, stretching his limbs and jumping around in preparation to drive Naruto though another session of what the boy could only describe as pure hell. To this day, he wasn't sure whether he was more relieved or terrified that the man kept showing up. On one hand, he could feel his body improving but on the other... Well sometimes that pain just wasn't worth it. One thing was for sure; the man definitely deserved the term _beast.__  
_

Considering the extreme fatigue and phantom pains that Naruto was experiencing no one could fault him when he let out a whine of frustration at the sound of a knock on the door. Standing slowly, he meandered over to the door and turned the handle. As he pulled the door open he was greeted with the sight of the Hokage standing in his full robes smiling down at him kindly. He blinked dumbly for a second.

"Jiji?" He stared at the man in confusion.

The Sandaime smiled kindly down at the boy, "Hello Naruto-kun," He ruffled the boy's head, "Did you forget what today is?"

Naruto continued to look at the man with an expression of complete befuddlement. He had been to school and he hadn't pranked anyone so he definitely wasn't in trouble - and what did he mean 'forget what today is'? There wasn't anything special happening in the village for at least another wee-

_'Oh.' _Naruto realised in suprise; it was a week before the Kyuubi festival. The elderly man would always take him out for his birthday on this day due to him getting swamped with work during Naruto's actual birthday on the day of the festival. Naruto grimaced in distaste as he thought about it; he _hated _his birthday - and the whole period of time surrounding it.

The Hokage seemed to notice his expression and smirked, "You forgot your birthday? Wow," He shrugged as he added, "I guess there's no point in going to Ichiraku's then..."

Silence.

"Nah, nah, nah! We can still go Jiji!" As the older man turned away, "Jiji? _Jiji!_" The wizened leader turned around with a grin at the sound of the boy's desperate voice.

"Oh fine, we'll still go then."

At this Naruto let out a whoop of joy; he may no enjoy his birthday but he sure as hell enjoyed ramen. The Hokage beckoned for the boy to follow him and started walking out of the apartment complex. With Naruto hot on his tail, Sarutobi couldn't help but notice the ugly glares that were sent toward the boy when the villagers didn't think he was looking.

_'Is it truly this bad?'_ He ruffled his robes in frustration, _'have I been blind to the depth of hate he experiences?'_

He didn't have very longer to ponder on the issue before the Ichiraku Ramen Stand came into view. Naruto seemed to draw strength from the sight and shot ahead of the venerable leader, entering the stand before the man even had a chance to see the other occupants. The Sandaime soon followed with a benign smile on his face. As he moved the flaps of the building in order to take a seat he was greeted with the sight of a grinning Teuchi looking down at Naruto who was giving his own beaming smile back.

"Hokage-sama," A short bow of the head followed, "What would you like for today? Naruto-kun has already ordered." At that Sarutobi couldn't help but gape; the boy must have spouted out his order incredibly fast in order for him to get it off before he even got in the stand.

"I'll have a large Miso, thank you."

"Of course!" The man hurried away into the kitchen as he spoke, presumably to either make the dish himself or tell Ayame to. As the Sandaime looked at Naruto's happy expression while he was eating the man was tempted not to bring up the matter he had been planning to with the boy before he hardened his will and steeled his gaze.

"Naruto," The blonde began to shrink in size; a lack of an affectionate honorific only even meant the Hokage was going to bring up something bad, "I trust you've been enjoying the academy?"

The boy blinked for a moment before replying, "Uh, yeah it's ok I guess."

"And you've haven't had any _troubles _so far?" The man didn't bother to clarify that he was referring to anything aside from his usual bout of pranks; the boy already knew Sarutobi didn't particularly care that he did them.

Naruto shrugged hesitantly, "Nah, nothing major."

"Oh really? So these rumors I hear about you almost _failing _the year have no basis?" Naruto winced at the man's tone and lowered his head in shame. His hair brushed over to hide his eyes while he looked at the floor with a pout on his face.

"I'm trying Jiji! I really am." He seemed to pause for a moment to contemplate whether he should say something, "I mean, I even got this super cool guy to help me out with my taijutsu!"

The man raised an eyebrow at that, "Oh?" It was unusual for the boy to ask for outside help.

"Yeah! Gai-sensei saw me practicing one day and said that I had learnt it all wrong and so is fixing it for me!" He grinned at this but the Hokage saw through his facade; the boy had been sabotaged and Gai had told him as much - it was simply another reason that the boy lost trust in the academy. He didn't even dare to wonder about the effect Gai and his insane habits might have on the blonde; one clone of the man was enough.

"Well that _is _good but I'd still like you to put some effort into your academics." At the boy's confused look he elaborated, "Book studies, tests, assignments and the like."

Naruto scowled, "Aww, but that stuff is so _boring_!" A vicious part of Naruto remembered, _'Not to mention I can't go to the library cause of you!' _The blonde knew he shouldn't think so negatively about the elderly man in front of him - he was only trying to do right by him - but sometimes he should just butt out of Naruto's life!_  
_

"Well, please try. If not for me then perhaps for Iruka?" It was a risky thing to name-drop Naruto's instructor; the man wasn't entirely sure that Naruto recognized the care the chunin had for him.

"I don't care what he thinks!" Naruto hissed angrily before arching his back suddenly in fear; he hadn't meant to react so strongly to Iruka's name but he just _hated _how the man had so little faith in him. It was like he expected Naruto to fail.

The Hokage didn't react visibly to Naruto's but internally grew worried,_ 'Has Iruka __unintentionally__ pushed him away?'_ Warning bells were going off in his head; If the chunin had caused a rift between them then it meant another one of the Sandaime's plans to make Naruto create bonds with the village had gone down the drain. The man knew he was both stretching his trust with the blonde and running out of viable people. In fact, the only ones left were Kakashi and Jiraiya and hell would freeze over before either of them could ever handle Naruto at this time.

"But you care what I think, I hope?" The man asked softly.

Naruto looked horrified at the mere _suggestion _that he didn't value the Hokage's opinion, "O-Of course Jiji! I'm gonna make you proud when I take that hat from you!" Not for the first time Sarutobi felt a pang of guilt strike him as he so blatantly manipulated the boy to suit his own ends. He also realised that at this point the boy only cared for him; it was both reassuring - because it meant he would be able to control the boy easily, and worrying - because what would his reaction be if he realised how much the Sandaime was responsible for his problems?

"Well to be Hokage you need to be smart, Naruto." He stared pointedly at the boy, "Academics is an important aspect of being a good leader."

"Ok! Ok! I'll do better - I promise!" The blonde bit out harshly. It seemed he was tired of talking about his failings and the Sandaime didn't blame him; today should have been one for celebration. Instead, it was being sullied by an old man's machinations.

The man smiled benignly at the young child, "I'm glad. Now we can move onto the more pleasant part of today." He patted Naruto patronizingly on the head, "Nine years old; what a big day!"

"Aww, don't embarrass me Jiji!" The boy pouted and slapped his hand away from his head.

"So cute!" Ayame, Teuchi's teenage daughter, announced as she pinched Naruto's cheek.

"Hey! Hey! I'm not a kid!" Naruto's distraught tone only seemed to encourage her. The Hokage watched the scene silently with a content expression on his face.

"Regardless, it _is _your birthday today, Naruto. So I think it's time for a gift, no?" As soon as he finished the boy whipped his head around in manic delight, bouncing up and down on his seat. The Hokage laughed at the enhusiasm and pulled a scroll out from inside his robes.

Handing the scroll over to Naruto, he explained, "In that scroll is a clone technique called the _Kage_ Bunshin. I feel that with your abnormally large reserves," And your tenant, "That it would benefit you to learn this jutsu rather than the usual _Bunshin _you'll be learning in the Academy next year." He smiled softly at the boy's amazed expression, "I know it's a bit early to give you such a technique but consider it a birthday present." And an apology for getting you kicked out of the library._  
_

"Thanks Jiji!" The boy jumped over and hugged the elderly man with a beaming smile on his face. The two remained like that for a few moments before the Hokage finally broke the embrace apart.

"Now, _Naruto_," His tone made the boy immediately pay attention, "This is a jonin level kinjutsu so you _must _be careful with it. Read everything in the scroll; especially the limitations and dangers of it." He stared at the boy intensely to get his point across, "The only reason you're getting this is because of your unusual amount of chakra. Anyone else might _die _if they try to use it." The point he was making was obvious; use it sparingly and don't teach it to anyone else.

"Of course Jiji! You can trust me." The boy's wicked grin was _not _reassuring.

* * *

When Fly followed Naruto out of his apartment to an abandoned training field with the Kage Bunshin scroll in his hands he had expected to have to pick up a chakra exhausted nine year old and lug him all the way to the hospital due to the combined foolishness of the child himself and the Hokage in giving him such a dangerous jutsu. He had been skeptical to say the least when the man had suggested giving it to him, not the least because the school year had ended for the moment and the child was thus unsupervised _and _bored. It was like a recipe for disaster with Naruto; either he'd injure himself or someone else.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, it had seemed he had chosen himself for the day, having headed toward a training ground in order to practice the dangerous and volatile clone technique. Needless to say, Fly was shocked, nay, _gobsmacked _when the boy had managed to summon thirty clones after a mere three hours of practicing. The boy too looked suprised if the expression every clones was wearing was anything to go by.

"Yatta!" Thirty Naruto's screamed in delight and the ANBU member had to refrain from holding his hands up against his ears due to the horrifying sound. Now not only could Naruto be extra loud but he could have _thirty _of him around the village. Just thinking about the sheer anarchy and carnage that he could now cause made Fly shiver in fear. What had the Sandaime done?

He had created chaos incarnate is what.

Naruto seemed to come to the same conclusion as every clone grew a devious smirk on their face at once. Before Fly had a chance to ponder the horror of the situation every clone dispelled quickly and Naruto clutched his head in a moan for a moment. He soon got over the affliction that had harmed him and put his hands back together in the handseal that Fly was now terrified of seeing.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He shouted loudly across the field. A huge cover of smoke appeared across the training ground, covering everywhere from head to toe. As it slowly cleared Fly staggered backwards and his eyes balked.

_'Oh my god!' _It wasn't simply amazing; it was _obscene_. Hundreds of nine year old Naruto's covered the entire field. He couldn't see where one body ended and another began. They were _everywhere_. Such a drain on the chakra source must have been insane and not for the first time Fly wondered how truly powerful Naruto could become thanks to his tenant. Gifted with already large reserves, the boy was turned into a chakra behemoth with the fox. What he could do could no longer be considered human.

And then, as quickly as they appeared, they all disappeared. Another eruption of smoke occurred. Once it dissipated Fly was greeted with the sight of an unconscious and twitching Naruto in the middle of the field. The man stared silently in shock for a moment before laughing out loud. For all the power that the boy now held he was still a naïve little child at heart. One who didn't seem to grasp the concept of _reading _the limitations of the jutsu. He clearly hadn't learnt about the memory backlash from large groups of clones.

The ANBU member strolled over to the now still body. He knew the boy would be fine - the fox would make sure of it - and so took delight in the momentary break from the usual madness that Naruto would force on him when he was assigned the job of watching over him. He picked up the blonde and stared at him for a moment before turning to walk toward the hospital at a sedated pace.

"You are _most _interesting, Uzumaki Naruto." And then he chuckled.

* * *

**A/N: In this fic I'm trying to avoid displaying the blatant abuse toward Naruto that other fics do; you know, the beatings etc etc. I feel as if it's a little too over the top but I do feel canon insinuates there was a light amount a physical abuse - e.g. getting forced out of shops, stuff being thrown at him, pushed around, etc etc. Of course, he'd have to deal with bullies too. But yeah, I feel physical abuse isn't exactly that ****_big _****in Naruto; it's the toll on Naruto's psyche that is the issue. I'm definitely aiming to show while it isn't a big 'conspiracy', (other than the elders) it's the collective populations' attempt to inhibit his growth that is the problem.**

**So... Naruto has touched upon his chakra control, found an instructor in Gai and dabbled with Kage Bunshin. The foundations have been set and the next few chapters should get a little more interesting; the next in particular will be quite... I****ntense. Meanwhile, good ol' Sarutobi is losing the plot with the boy and beginning to unconsciously push him away while Fly is, well, terrified.**

**Yes, Naruto is growing distant from the venerable leader. No, he won't be 'abandoning' the village at the age of 10 to become a super strong S-class shinobi.**

**Until next time...**


	3. Crimson Orbs

**Pulling Your Own Strings**

_Chapter 1: Crimson Orbs_

* * *

**|Nine Years Old|**

The blonde boy entered the imposing building of the Hospital quickly, darting through the halls without a care for who he might hit on the way. It wasn't like he _would _hit anyone anyway - he was Uzumaki Naruto! And there was also the fact that he knew this building like the back of his hand. He'd like to say it was because of his amazing pranking adventures in the area but unfortunately it wasn't; he'd just spent so much time in the building either for injuries from such foolishness, injuries from _other _incidents or because of the stupid damn check-ups the Hokage always made him have.

Honestly, since when did the great Naruto ever need to be checked over so often!

_'Come to think of it,'_ Naruto thought suspiciously, _'Since when does _anyone _need so many check-ups?' _He had never heard of a person having to visit the hospital so much and, to be perfectly honest with himself, he didn't know exactly why he had to anyway. Just what was it about him that made Jiji have him come to this building to often?

He filed the paranoid thoughts away for later - it wouldn't do to just start doubting his Jiji now, the man had always done everything he could for him and the least the boy could do was repay such kindness with loyalty.

Returning his focus to the task at hand, Naruto soon found himself in front of the door he desired. He slowly, hesitantly moved up to it and knocked politely three times - just like he had been taught! - and waited for an answer. He was soon rewarded with such patience when the door swung open and a kindly lady looked down at him. Her hair had begun to grey and she had a slightly bent back. It was obvious to Naruto - to anyone in fact - that this woman was getting on in her years. Regardless, the woman had always been nice to him so her being old didn't take anything from her inherent coolness!

"Naruto-chan," She spoke softly with a hint of surprise in her voice, "What are you doing here? Your check up isn't for another three weeks."

The boy grinned, "Can't I just come to see ya Hisoka-obaachan?"

A soft laugh was her reply, "Of course, although something tells me you might be here for a little more then a friendly chat with an old woman like me."

"Ah you got me!" He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, "How did you know?"

"Call it a woman's intuition." She smiled back at him good-naturedly.

The boy nodded sagely, "It all makes sense now. That's why Jiji can never guess why I see him."

The woman, despite her old age, began to giggle - the boy was just too cute sometimes! - and gently re-directed the conversation, "So, you mentioned you were here for something?" At this Naruto hesitated for a moment; he knew exactly why he was here but it was a difficult subject to broach for him. He didn't often ask for help outside of the Hokage - whether from his own stubbornness or a growing realisation that no one wanted to help him - and so he struggled to form the words he wanted to say.

"I, um, waswonderingifyoucouldhelpmewithmychakracontrol!" Naruto's tirade of words confused the woman for a moment and her eyes widened slightly at the speed he talked.

"I didn't quite hear all of that... But I gathered you want me to help you with something?" She prodded carefully.

Naruto nodded emphatically at this, "Yeah! See, I know you're a medic-nin and can do all that super cool chakra stuff," At this he paused as if to ask if she truly _did _know all that 'super cool chakra stuff' and Hisoka merely nodded in reply, "And well, I've been trying to get better chakra control but it's too hard and the academy is no help at all! It sucks!"

"Why do you want to learn better control Naruto?" At his confused look she elaborated, "Don't get me wrong! It's great that you want to improve yourself it's just that you... Well, you don't seem like the type of boy that would _care _enough about chakra control..."

Naruto was about to launch a passionate rant on the beauty of puppetry and how damn _awesome _it was when he paused for a second; since when had telling _anyone _his dreams helped him? His pursuit of the position of Hokage only earned him scorn and whenever he voiced his desire to learn something in the academy it was almost as if everything aligned against him to stop him from learning it.

He mentally nodded in acceptance; Hisoka didn't need to know why at all.

"Well I heard some people talking about chakra strings and thought it sounded sweet! Being able to trip people up and stuff with your chakra would be crazy!" Naruto grinned from ear-to-ear in an effort to hide the worry that was threatening to break out onto his face.

Hisoke, thankfully, bought his act and smiled, "While not the usual reason people use to justify learning chakra control I guess it is admirable you want to do it regardless," She paused for a moment as if thinking something over, "Chakra strings are much too advanced for you anyway..." At this Naruto grew a dejected look on his face, "But I guess I could show you some simpler stuff?"

At this Naruto's grin returned and he replied quickly, "Yes please!"

Hisoka nodded, "Very well. Meet me here Monday at 4PM." She seemed to remember something humorous at this point and smirked, "I'll be teaching you how to climb trees."

* * *

As Naruto awoke in the early hours of Wednesday morning he looked out of the window next to his bed. The sun had only just began to rise and he would usually take such a sight as a sign that he should sleep in. Today however, the boy couldn't control the surge of excitement that coursed through his body as soon as he gained his bearings; it was already Wednesday. Even now, Monday seemed to be drawing closer. Of course, Naruto being Naruto, the boy wasn't going to be able to simply wait out the time until his lessons with Hisoka patiently - no, that would require a great deal more self-discipline than the nine-year-old had. Instead, he had decided yesterday that he would return to the humble abode of the library in order to read up on another of Sasori's numerous books.

He climbed out of bed lethargically, a sharp contrast to the active buzz of his mind as he did so. Within minutes he found himself dressed and chowing down on a small breakfast. It wasn't anything special; just a piece of toast with some fruit. He finished up with a glass of water to wash it down. The small breakfast didn't bother him as he had had such small morning meals ever since he could remember. Even during his time in the orphanage - a swirl of anxiety hit his stomach at the dark memories of the place - where people made breakfast for the children he had never experienced more than toast or a single piece of fruit if he was lucky.

And for once such treatment was not isolated only to him - the social institutions of Konoha had been filled to the brim after both the war and the Kyuubi attack and so the budget was tight. The idea of a big breakfast was simply unfeasible.

_'Although,' _Naruto thought grimly to himself, _'I'm pretty sure everyone else got heaps more during lunch and dinner!'_

At the realisation of _another _act of bias against him Naruto scowled darkly.

He shook his head to dismiss the dark thoughts and returned to his breakfast. It never helped dwelling on such things. He soon finished and promptly stood, walking toward the door quickly. As he exited and locked up behind him Naruto allowed a small grin to grace his lips. The past didn't matter; he was Uzumaki Naruto and he looked after himself now! That was all that mattered. If he could rely on himself then he could live his life happily.

Yes, as long as he relied on _only _himself he'd be just fine.

* * *

It wasn't long before the blonde-haired boy found himself in front of the door of the library. The building, if possible, seemed to have grown ever more dull in the days since his last visit. Naruto snorted at the thought - how could a library possibly get _any more _boring? The Uzumaki slipped into a nearby alley quickly, the act of putting a henge on himself quickly being something of a routine for him.

"Henge no Jutsu!" The boy whispered furiously his chakra coalescing around him. In a poof of smoke the blonde boy disappeared only to be replaced by a taller, much more plain looking, brunette with a curious under-bite Naruto grinned slightly underneath the technique; there was nothing like being in another person's skin - even if they didn't exactly exist.

He strode out of the alley confidently and entered the library with an exuberance that one would never normally connect with the Naruto and books. Walking past the front desk - he knew where he was going - Naruto soon found himself in front of the bookcase that contained the countless volumes surrounding the elusive figure of Sasori. For a moment he pondered on which sounded the most exciting but realised with startling clarity that almost all of them would be completely and utterly useless to him until he actually learnt how to control the puppets.

A small pang of frustration struck him as he read the titles despondently until he stumbled upon one he had read before, _'__Catalogue of Akasuna no Sasori's known poisons' _A shit-eating grin threatened to split Naruto's grin in half - if there was one thing his countless pranking sessions had taught him it was that almost anything that made people sneeze, itch or defecate could be found in the forests surrounding Konoha. And to a nine-year-old's juvenile mind the idea of something making someone, to put it eloquently, poop their pants is comparative to that of a poison that could kill in seconds.

After all, if the red mushroom made itching powder and the blue mushroom collapsed your lungs what difference was it really?

* * *

Naruto changed quickly into his usual exuberant orange outfit and prepared to leave his apartment in haste. Today was going to be awesome! He had promised himself that he would sneak out of the village proper and search for some poisons. To do so however, he would need to slip out of the grasp of his ANBU handler. If he didn't then he was surely going to be hauled off to the Sandaime and if there was one thing Naruto wanted to avoid today it was getting in trouble.

So, in order to slip away from the ANBU watcher and find the poisons he so desperately wanted he had come up with a plan. He knew that his stealth was nowhere near good enough to sneak past the elite shinobi currently presiding outside his house and so he had compromised If he couldn't get away from him then he would simply allow him to watch him - at least, one of him. The boy grinned; clones were just the best!

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." He mumbled softly and a clone popped into existence next to him.

Without a word it left the apartment and headed toward the swing outside the Academy. He had already decided that it would be for the best if his duplicate didn't do anything strenuous and risk being dispelled so he had decided to send it over to the academy which was empty due to the weekend. As the clone moved to do so Naruto stood silently in his apartment and held his breath in hope. Would the man fall for it?

He waited for what seemed like hours when in reality was only minutes before he was absolutely sure that he couldn't feel the presence of his usual watcher. When the usual feeling of eyes staring into the back of his head left, Naruto let out a joy of elation. He had managed to trick an ANBU! It was a shame he couldn't tell his sensei - images of himself being congratulated on his overwhelming skills in deception by Iruka flickered through his mind.

He dismissed the hopeful thoughts with a shake of his head; now was not the time to dwell on silly fantasies. Moving quickly, Naruto exited the apartment with an audible click of the door closing being heard behind him. He moved in the opposite direction of his clone and slipped through the streets of Konoha as discreetly as possible. After all, it wouldn't do for another ANBU to notice his figure without the presence of his usual watcher.

Before long Naruto found himself a considerable distance away from both his apartment and the Academy and so allowed a breath of relief to exit his body. Silently cheering in success, he continued toward his eventual goal of the forest. He began to pick up his pace as he moved through the busy streets, wanting to avoid the rush of people altogether. Unfortunately for him that boat had long since sailed and he found himself either being deliberately bumped into or avoided entirely. It would have been a funny sight to a spectator; a boy of the age of nine being knocked around as the crowd parted for him quickly

Whispers followed him wherever he walked; complaints of how 'that boy' dared to walk down their path and that Konoha would be better off without the 'creature'. He ignored them all as he always did. It wouldn't help to dwell on what they meant and he had long since given up trying to decipher the cruel and harsh words. They were just there, always.

He had long since cast his eyes down to look at the floor in order to avoid the hate-filled faces surrounding him and so it was no surprise when that he ended up accidently bumping into someone himself. In an ironic twist of fate it was for once himself who remained standing while the man he had knocked fell to the floor from the momentum.

There was a moment of shocking silence.

"You brat!" The man roared in fury as he stood back up. He was taller than the average Konoha citizen and if the bulking figure stretching his clothes was anything to go by he was larger too. On top of the angry eyes that were bulging out of their sockets it was an intimidating sight for the blonde boy.

"Sorry!" He mumbled quickly in fear.

If anything the apology only seemed to make the man even angrier, "Sorry isn't good enough!" At this he gripped Naruto's hair, fingers lacing through the blonde locks and forcing the boy's diminutive frame into a kneeling position. Naruto whimpered in pain from the man's harsh hand and the man grinned at the grimace that crossed the blonde's face, "Doesn't feel too good being the weak one does it!?" The civilian drew strength from the silent bystanders around him that neither moved to assist him nor defend the demon. It was almost as if everyone was watching the spectacle in abject silence.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The blonde begged in fear.

Despite the boy's grovelling the villager didn't let up, holding Naruto by his hair and tightening his grip. The force on Naruto's head caused him to cry out in pain. This shouldn't be happening! Jiji had promised to make them stop! He had said so!

And so far he had; whenever a villager even _dared _to touch Naruto they had found themselves quickly arrested by the terrifying visage of an ANBU member. More often than not, the individual would fall victim to a violent arrest and find themselves injured before they even managed to reach the dark halls of the T&I department. It was a relieving thing for the boy - although he didn't quite know it. The ANBU had been following him around since he had been old enough to walk and so there was a common protective nature bred in the members when it came to Naruto. If someone harmed the boy they quickly met the full force of the ANBU.

Unfortunately for the blonde, this time there wasn't his usual follower around to save him. Instead, he was forced to deal with the aggressive and crazed man by himself. So he immediately did as he usually did and begged for forgiveness. It seemed however, that this man grew even more infuriated every time he apologized and so when the boy repeated the phrase for a third team he threw the boy across the street. A sickening crack could be heard as the boy collided with the brick wall of a shop.

Naruto gasped in pain from the impact while the man howled at him, "Sorry doesn't bring them back!" As he spoke he moved toward the nine-year-old at a manic pace. Despite the grim sight of a child being attacked no one in the streets moved to stop it. In fact, some watched the show with an expression of satisfaction on their face, as if they were proud of the man. Others were more restrained and simply watched with a neutral face.

The more intelligent of the bystanders began to leave the area quickly, realising the danger of being caught in the crossfire when the ANBU eventually showed up. And they definitely _would _show up; they always did. Considering the boy's situation it wasn't going to be a pleasant arrival either.

As the people scattered the man assaulting Naruto took it as his chance to land a hit on the boy. He clenched his fist in anger and smashed the boy across the face. Blood spurted out of Naruto's nose from the strike and he flew backwards from the sheer force. A collision with the wall followed before the boy finally collapsed in a heap. He whimpered in pain from not just the strike but the humiliation. The man took a moment to enjoy the feeling of power he held over his victim before clenching his fist again.

As he moved to strike again he hissed, "They'll never be back... and it's all because of you, _monster_!" His hand flew forwards.

It was as the man spoke that Naruto realised he truly _hated _that word. Even when he was called a clan-less orphan, an idiot... Even when he was forced out of shops or pushed away from the other children he didn't feel such cold, burning, furious hatred grip his heart. No, it was only when that two-syllable word was uttered, the epitaph of his short life, that he fell into the dark pits of despair that he was currently in.

And it was with this realisation that something deep inside of the boy _snapped_.

Red exploded around the boy and suddenly people in the street found themselves unable to move from the sheer pressure of the air around them. Malice pervaded the area and corrupted their hearts, sinking it's horrible teeth into their very being. It was a feeling only felt one other time in Konoha and for this it was even more terrifying. Women screamed, men collapsed and children bawled their eyes.

And within it all a small nine-year-old boy stared at his aggressor with a set of malevolent crimson orbs, "Don't to**u****ch _me_!**"

* * *

He was in his office when he felt it, signing some paperwork pertaining to a profitable trade agreement with Suna. When it burst onto his senses he didn't believe it at first. There was only one other time he had felt such evil and it simply wasn't possible that he could be feeling it again.

It was only a moment of hesitance - a single fraction in time - but it was that sliver of a second that proved to the man how utterly serious the situation. He was the God of Shinobi; he _never _hesitated. And that realisation was all he needed to fling himself into action.

Standing quickly, he barked out orders to the hidden soldiers in his office, "Bird! Find Tenzou! He is to home in on my signal and come to my aid at once." The ANBU in question didn't acknowledge the orders, merely disappearing in a swirl of leaves, "Horse! Gather three active squads - I don't care who - and do the same!" She too didn't reply to the furious man in front of her and disappeared without a sound.

After all, there was no time to speak; Sarutobi Hiruzen had a boy to find and maybe, just maybe, a demon to defeat.

* * *

As soon as he touched upon the dark power Naruto knew something had happened. It was like a dam had burst; he hadn't ever felt so magnificent, so incredible - so alive! A chakra was course through his veins unlike anything he had ever experienced before. Not only was it thousands of times more intense and heavy than what he usually felt but it also contained a sort of malicious taint to it, almost as if it was willing the blonde boy to do damage.

Fortunately for the man in front of him, as invigorating as the newfound strength was for Naruto it was also incredibly new and thus, shocked by the presence of it, he lost all control over the chakra and it quickly dissipated, leaving his body and the air surrounding him. The boy stumbled backwards in both fear and horror; just what the hell was that? What the hell had _happened_? He didn't get very long to think on the issue however, as the people around him suddenly realised they could move again.

Pandemonium broke loose; some of the bystanders screamed in terror, others simply froze in shock. All however, eventually retreated away from the seemingly unstable boy, not wanting to poke the proverbial bear and bring the feeling back. The man guilty of Naruto's state cowered backwards in complete and utter fear, terrified of what he had awoken.

"M-Monster!" He hollered desperately turning to run as fast as his legs could carry him.

Naruto didn't chase him, once again struck by the word the man called him. This time however, rather than a raging pit of anger his stomach turned over in despair; he had felt the power, the desire, the unrelented evil, that had coursed through him and he had _seen _the fear that it had inspired in the people around him. Was this what made people so utterly terrified of him? Some sort of ability to pull dark power out of the very air?

**"Use the power." **An insipid voice interrupted his thoughts.

His head flipped around in terror, trying to locate the source of the voice. If he didn't know any better he would of thought it came out of nowh-

**"Embrace it. Embrace your inner darkness, your _tru__e _being." **It cut through his thoughts again - this time with a sort of sickly glee. The blonde boy shook in fear; was the voice inside his head?! And what was it talking about?

**"I speak only of truth." **There was a pause, **"You desired the strength to fight back against that man. You wished to hurt him - to kill him." **He - and Naruto knew it was a 'he' from the deep baritone of the voice - spoke softly at this point, **"I provided you with what you asked for."**

What he had asked for? He didn't remember wishing for anything. In fact, the only thing he had been thinking about was to get as far away from the man as possible.

**"Retreat? Ha! Weak." **The voice seemed to mock him here, **"No, kill him. Remove his taint from the land."**

Naruto shivered - he really, _really _didn't like where this voice was goin-

**"Rip him to shreds. Rend him into tiny little pieces. Destroy his very being!"**

Naruto clutched his head in pain.

**"Kill."**

**"Destroy!"**

**"BLOOD!"**

**"DEATH!"**

**"I DEMAND DEATH!"**

Naruto didn't fully understand what the voice was doing but he all he knew was that he just wanted it to _stop__!_ He tore at his hair, a blinding pain striking him behind the eyes. He felt what could only be described as the most severe of headaches. Stumbling around madly, he turned away from the scene of the retreating villager that had attacked him and instead ran as hard as he could away from the street.

Away from the scene of the crime.

Away from the frenzied panic.

Away from the voice.

* * *

The ANBU of the area, upon feeling the explosion of the Nine-Tails' chakra, converged quickly on Naruto's original location. Fly was just one such ANBU who felt the power coursing through the air. He was noticeably confused as, to his eyes, Uzumaki Naruto was sitting innocently on the swing outside of the academy. He was soon forced to understand the situation when the Naruto sitting in front of him suddenly popped and smoke whipped out around the area the boy had previously been holding. He had been tricked into watching a clone.

At first he felt anger, both at himself for having allowed himself to be duped by a nine-year-old child and Naruto for having committed the treachery, until an intense feeling of worry assaulted him; where was the boy? And what on earth had happened to him? He was under no illusions that he would simply find the boy unharmed - the dark chakra he had felt disrupted such beliefs.

And so with a burst of speed that would make any ANBU member proud Fly flew toward the location of the chakra. His mind whirled through the possible scenes he might stumble upon. The boy might have been attacked or, even worse, might have attacked someone himself. It was a scary thought, that the youthful boy that he had been assigned to might cause harm upon another - it seemed to go against his very nature - but he couldn't afford to dismiss such suspicion considering the situation he was facing.

When he did inevitably arrive at the scene he sucked in a deep breath of relief; there wasn't any blood, bodies or destruction. That meant that Naruto hadn't completely lost control of himself - a small victory in the rapidly deteriorating situation. He jumped down to the source of what he now recognize as residue chakra and found himself face-to-face with a middle-aged villager.

He looked momentarily at the man and realised that from the way he was shivering and the pure horror stricken on his face that he simply _had _to be involved in this mess. A cursory glance around the area revealed a distinct lack of blonde-haired children and so he frowned under his mask. He pushed out a chakra pulse, sucking in a deep breath of air as he did so, and found himself once again disappointed; Naruto wasn't here.

"Speak." He commanded the man in front of him. The villager, who was balding at a rather early age, flinched at his voice and hesitated for a moment.

Fly moved forward threateningly, "What. Happened. Here?" He paused after every word and laced his voice in a strong aura of killing intent.

Immediately, the man dropped to his knees and began to babble, "It's back..." He whispered it quickly, "It's back, it's back, it's back, it's-"

"What's back?" Fly barked at him, terrified to hear the answer.

"The fox.." He sobbed loudly at this point, "You have to understand - I... I didn't meant to do it!"

Fly stepped forward menacingly, "Do _what_?"

"I just knocked him around is all, once or twice, nothing different from usual." Fly had a strong desire to kill the child-abuser where he stood but restrained himself, "Just a few hits. No... nothing different at all." The man had clearly lost sight of the situation at this point and began to speak nonsensically.

"What happened?" Fly accentuated the words loudly.

"I don't know!" Another sob, "I went to hit him again-" Again? Fly vibrated in fury, "When he suddenly went completely still... And then-" The man paused and his eyes grew wide with terror, "I felt _it_. The demon was back and it was suffocating me, making me want to die. I just wanted it to end." A few seconds of silence occurred before the man finished, "And then suddenly, it ran away."

Fly was tempted to spit at the man in disgust but managed to restrain himself at the sight of another individual rapidly approaching the scene. The Hokage had arrived with a furious expression on his face. He was dressed in his shinobi clothing and a single ANBU trailed behind him quickly. The two soon stood in front of Fly and Naruto's watcher felt himself under the intense, angry and questioning gaze of the Hokage.

"Report." The old man's voice was hardened.

Fly immediately spoke, "As per mission parameters I, ANBU member Fly, followed flight-risk," At this Sarutobi's angry exterior crumbled slightly to show a grief-stricken face, "Uzumaki Naruto around the village. I was monitoring him around the Academy when suddenly I felt a surge of foreign chakra in the village." Fly didn't bother to explain that it was the Kyuubi's chakra he felt - the Hokage already knew that, "I was confused as I was currently watching the only person who could be responsible for the burst. The boy however, turned out to be a clone and suddenly dispelled."

Sarutobi grew furious at this, "You allowed yourself to be tricked by a-" He paused, "We will speak of this later. Continue."

Fly felt himself sweating at this point, "I quickly moved to the area and, upon realising that Uzumaki Naruto wasn't in the area, interrogated this civilian," He pointed at the man, "On the recent actions he has undertaken." He couldn't prevent the tone of anger that slipped into his voice and Sarutobi seemed to notice it.

"Oh?" The Sandaime asked carefully.

"This _man_," The disgust was obvious to all listening, "Assaulted Uzumaki Naruto. Repeatedly."

An explosion of chakra once again occurred but this time all knew where it came from, "_What_?" He snarled.

"Midway through the abuse the victim seemed to lose control of himself," He left the blanks to be filled in, "Before rapidly leaving the scene."

There was a tense moment of silence as the Sandaime processed the information he had just been told. Fly felt himself needing to shift onto his right foot in order to calm his nerves but managed to prevent himself from doing so. The villager had no such restraint and began to visibly shake in fear from the angered expression on the Sandaime's face. If Fly were to hazard a guess he'd say that the man was probably thinking of the punishment he would soon undergo due to his foolishness. It was well known that Naruto was a dangerous person to trifle with when it came to the Hokage.

Ever since his decision to inform the public about Naruto's burden the elderly man had been wracked by the guilt of his misguided planning. He had originally hoped that the love and praise of his village would feel the gaping hole Naruto would have due to the loss of parents. Of course, he was sorely mistaken and ended up forcing Naruto into a life of pain and misery. Considering his involvement in the situation the Sandaime had quickly developed a sort of over-protectiveness when it came to the boy. Whether out of guilt or simple duty to look after a Konoha 'weapon', Fly didn't know.

Regardless, the Hokage didn't take kindly to physical attacks on the young Uzumaki and each were imprisoned without trial and often given the harshest of punishments. Unfortunately, the man could do nothing to prevent the psychological damage that was inflicted on the boy and nor could he prevent the neglect the blonde experienced at the hands of the people in the village.

"Fly," The man whipped his head toward the venerable leader, "Take this man to the dungeons. Ensure he is treated appropriately for harming Konoha assets." And it was true, Naruto was nothing if not a Konoha asset. The fox ensured that. The man went rigid with shock as Sarutobi spoke, realising the consequences of what he had done. Fly held no sympathy for the man's plight however, and merely moved forward to grab his arms.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." He whispered softly as he disappeared in a flurry of leaves, the man in his grasp. As soon as the two disappeared from his sights the Sandaime allowed his face to darken considerably. Because of the stupidity of one person all the work the Hokage had put into fixing the rift between himself and the boy was sure to be ruined. The old man shook his head to dismiss the depressing thoughts and threw his chakra outward, trying to pinpoint the location of the wayward Uzumaki.

He had to find Naruto - and fast.

* * *

Naruto hissed in pain as he landed awkwardly from his jump. He had just managed to leave the inner area of the city only to stumble into a training ground blindly. He clutched his head fearfully and dragged himself toward a nearby tree before finally collapsing under shade. The branches above him were waving softly from the wind and if it had been any other day Naruto was sure that he'd take a moment to appreciate the beauty of nature.

Unfortunately for him, it wasn't any other day. No, it was today. And today just so happened to involve a loud, angry voice screaming at him in his head.

**"I can feel your fear," **The voice had softened to a murmur now, almost as if it's owner had realised that scaring Naruto wasn't working in it's favor, **"I can feel your anger." **Another moment of silence, **"And it's _invigorating_. Harness the darkness of your heart - use it!" **The voice grew in volume at this point and Naruto found himself shaking from the sheer presence of it.

Naruto, panic-stricken, shouted wildly "W-What's-"

**"Be silent child!" **Naruto shrieked as he was interrupted before falling deathly silent, **"I can give you what you desire. I can give you _power_."**

"Who are yo-"

**"Accept my gift! ACCEPT ME!" **Naruto didn't have a chance to work out what the voice meant as he was suddenly subject to the most incredible pain he had ever felt in his short life. His entire body felt like it was on fire, like the very blood in his veins was acid eating away at the skin surrounding it. He writhed around frantically, the feeling overwhelming him. It was all-encompassing and simply mind-numbing.

If anyone were to look at Naruto at the time they would have seen the nine-year-old coated by a malicious red aura with waves of heat flying off of his body. Above his head one could see the image of a fox forming, it's head rearing back to roar.

This was precisely the scene the Sandaime and his loyal ANBU stumbled upon; Naruto rolling around in what could only be sheer agony as a red chakra encompassed his entire being. The ANBU reacted quickly, surrounding the boy and putting themselves between the old leader and Naruto. One ANBU in particular, with the mask of a cat, took up the frontal position and stared down at the boy.

Naruto himself seemed entirely ignorant of the people watching him and so, when a hand gripped on his shoulder, he flinched violently and lashed out with his right arm in a desperate attempt to get away from the contact. Rather than the boy simply throwing a pitiful punch at the ANBU member a whip of corrosive chakra slung out of his body and slashed the man's hand. The man immediately jumped away from the proximity of the boy, a big welt beginning to form on his previously gloved right hand.

As soon as the ANBU member was sufficiently distanced from Naruto the rest of the shinobi seemed to unanimously come to a decision; Having seen the danger Naruto was currently presenting they moved toward the boy in a threatening manner, intending to put him down. Whether through harmless means or otherwise undesirable means no one could tell. All they knew was that they had to suppress the dark chakra and it was only when one of them drew a katana out and moved to slice at Naruto that they were finally interrupted in their quest of ending the boy.

A furious voice broke the air, chakra lacing it and increasing it's volume ten-fold, "Don't touch him!" The Sandaime roared loudly. The shinobi in the area all flinched uncontrollably - the wizened leader had forced pure killing intent into his command and so they all felt themselves fleeing away from the boy from the sheer power in the order. For a moment everything was silent aside from the thrashing of Naruto.

"H-Hokage-sama-" An ANBU began hesitantly, his mask that of a rabbit.

"I will handle this myself," Sarutobi turned to look over his soldiers, a disgusted look on his face, "He has been through too much already and I refuse to allow you to burden him with injuries as well." Without a second glance the man strode forward, toward the dangerous red chakra flying around the blonde-haired child.

Another ANBU, the only one brave enough, followed his leader quickly, "Allow me to restrain him-" A sharp look forced him to quickly add, "Peacefully." If cat were a lesser man he was sure that he'd be sweating under the intensity of the Sandaime's perusal.

"Very well," Hiruzen spoke slowly, "You _would _be the most appropriate." At the Hokage's acquiescence Cat moved quickly toward the boy. He soon found himself standing in close proximity of Naruto - and, by proxy, the dangerous chakra. Even with his mind focused entirely on the objective he could still feel the malice in the air, the desire to inflict him that was coating the very oxygen he was breathing. He brushed off such thoughts quickly and returned to his task. Slamming his hands down on the ground, Cat forced chakra through the dirt below him.

For a moment nothing happened. Then suddenly a cacophony of sound broke through. Branches could be heard snapping as dirt gave way to huge monolithic wooden structures. Trees began to surround Naruto quickly and as they did so one could see the grim aura surrounding the boy being slowly pushed back. They tightened around him, enclosing the gap between the child and the plant-life.

The Hokage grew alarmed as the trees closed within inches of the boy - terrified for a moment that they might crush him - but his worry was all for naught as Cat was a man of his word, the structures halting immediately around Naruto. After a few tense seconds the trees suddenly shrunk and disappeared back beneath the earth, leaving behind a small blonde-haired nine-year-old curled up tightly in a ball in their wake. A whimpering could be heard from the direction of the child and, where one had previously felt an evil chakra was instead only a suffocating cloud of despair.

The Sandaime didn't waste another moment, striding toward the crying boy with a speed not thought possible at his age. As he neared Naruto he was forced to take in the depths of damage that the Kyuubi had wrought on his container. Naruto had, whether from pain or fear, clawed at his face so hard that he was bleeding across both cheek-bones. His fingers were raw from scratching the ground and his hair was singed from the heat of the chakra. All in all, it looked like the boy had just come out a fire jutsu.

He took the last step toward the boy and gently called, "Naruto?" From his position on the ground a single blue eye opened up and looked out of the hair that had fallen in front of his face. At first there was no recognition in the eye, almost as if the boy were in some sort of trance, when suddenly he flinched away from the man with a horrified expression on his face.

"S-Stay away!" Naruto screamed.

Sarutobi felt a pang of grief strike his heart at the boy's words but persisted, "Naruto, it's me; Jiji." Once again the boy flinched and when the Sandaime made a hesitant gesture to put his hand on the boy's shoulder the blonde practically leapt away in fear. He staggered around blindly, the fear evident on his face.

"Don't come any closer!" He was howling at this point, "I-I don't wanna hurt you." He shivered as he spoke and Sarutobi realised with startling clarity that the boy wasn't scared _of him -_ rather, he was scared _for him_.

The old man moved forward with incredible speed, aiming to pick the boy up in a strong hug. It was no longer a matter of calming Naruto down but reassuring him that everything would be fine. Before he could grasp the child however, he slipped out of his grasp stumbling backwards in a sort of frenzied panic. His blonde hair whipped around wildly, the wind flinging the locks around as he moved.

Before the Sandaime could make another attempt to grab the boy the dark chakra of the tailed beast returned and began to pick up in pressure. The evil feeling in the area intensified and Sarutobi felt a growing pit of concern in his stomach; Naruto only seemed to be getting _worse__._ It was precisely at this moment that a member of the ANBU squad surrounding the venerable leader decided to take action into their own hands.

Rabbit darted forwards and choppe the boy in the back of the neck harshly. There was a single petrifying moment for the old Hokage where he thought the man had tried to kill the boy only to realise with a small amount of relief that it had only been a light hit. Nevertheless, it was enough to send Naruto into the world of unconsciousness and more then enough for the Sandaime to grow furious with the offender. First, he grabbed the blonde boy's falling form and cradled him carefully for a few seconds, checking to see if he was in any danger.

As soon as he was able he turned around to look at Rabbit coldly, "How dare you." His gaze held a sort of dark, bubbling anger that the ANBU member had never felt before. To be subject to such emotion was unnerving to say the least and the shinobi felt himself faltering under the intense stare of his leader.

"I will accept any punishment you deem acceptable." He spoke resignedly and bowed his head in a sign of respect, "I just desired to prevent further danger to your person."

There was a tense moment of silence where the Sandaime stared at Rabbit with searching gaze.

"Get out of my sight." The elderly man practically hissed the words, having trouble with letting the man go unpunished. Rabbit needed no further prompting and quickly disappeared into the trees surrounding the group of individuals. As he did so the rest of the ANBU, Cat included, shifted around uneasily; now that the crisis had been averted it was merely a matter of damage control. Unfortunately for them, this was an _incredible _amount of damage.

The Hokage took a moment to collect his thoughts before issuing commands quickly, "Cat," He turned to his most trusted ANBU member, "Gather the elders; they are to meet me at sundown." The man in question nodded slowly and disappeared in a cloud of leaves, "Horse, follow up on the incident that instigated this issue. You have my full authority to punish those responsible as you see fit." It was a cold, callous order - one that surely signed away the death of the obtuse civilian who had attacked Naruto - but it was a necessary one.

"As you wish Hokage-sama." She too left a whirl of winds behind her.

"Everyone but Bird leave." There was a moment of hesitance as the group of elite shinobi realised they were being told to abandon their most important mission of protecting the Hokage. They followed the order quickly though, their sense of self-preservation kicking them into gear at the sight of Sarutobi's exasperated stare.

There was a chorus of "Hai." And then they were gone.

"Bird," The quiet, unassuming man stood to attention, "Find Hatake Kakashi - he is currently on leave. He is to head to the hospital as soon as possible and protect Naruto from harm. No one is to enter his room." The man nodded and moved to leave. "Bird," the man looked back, "_No one._" The meaning behind the order was obvious to the silent guardian of Konoha; the famed copy-nin was perhaps the Sandaime's most trusted shinobi and the express order to prevent anyone from entering was a clear preventative measure in the case of the dark forces of Konoha trying to move against the demon container when he was at his most vulnerable.

That he was being ordered to find Hatake spoke great deals of the trust the village's leader had for him and so, despite his best efforts, Bird felt his chest puffing out and pride filling his body. He moved with an intense sense of purpose; it wouldn't do well to disappoint the man considering the faith he had just enlisted in him.

As soon as the man left the Sandaime allowed the tension in his body to dissipate. He stared down at the boy in his arms and a sense of overwhelming despair clawed at his heart. Just how was he going to fix _this_?

* * *

Hisoka - unisex name that means 'reserved'.

**A/N: Holy shit! I'm alive!?**

**Yeah, no excuses. I'm just incredibly busy and, if possible, even more incredibly lazy. Hehehe.**

**Naruto _is_ going to be using poisons. To what capacity exactly I haven't yet decided. And yes, Hisoka is the typical 'OC chakra control trainer' that you always see but I just couldn't find anyone else to write into the story without it being too cheesy. The only other option was Iruka and I want a sort of uneasy relationship between him and Naruto and such a thing would at the very least hinder that.**

**So in this chapter we get the big Kyuubi revelation (Ooooh) - the aftermath of which will be seen in the next chapter. I'd like to point out that Kyuubi in my story is _not _a happy camper. He hates the position he finds himself in and so will do anything - anything at all - to get out. If that means bending Naruto to his will with a silver tongue he'll do it. He has literally no moral fibre in this story at this time; he's looking out for only himself. That's not to say this won't change though... Maybe Naruto will grow on him?**

**In other news; Fly dun goofed and the Sandaime is very mad - furious even - both with the entire situation and the way it's escalated. There's also that damn niggling guilt that eats away at him - that doesn't help damnit!**

**I'd like to say updates will be faster but... they won't. Hope you enjoyed.**

**Cheerio.**


	4. Change

**Pulling Your Own Strings**

_Chapter 4: Change_

* * *

**|Nine Years Old|**

Jiraiya was worried. No - scratch that - he was downright terrified.

Fukasaku had appeared before him the previous night with a desperate sense of speed. The elder toad had hurriedly explained that the Great Toad Sage had summoned the two elder toads with a dark message - something had changed in the currents of time - and he needed to tell Jiraiya something. Upon being informed Jiraiya had dropped what he was doing immediately and allowed himself to be reverse summoned to Mt. Myoboku.

After all, there was really only one relevant thing for Jiraiya that could of changed - the prophecy surrounding his pupil. And that was something that, according to the Great Toad Sage, simply had to occur. Else, the world would collapse in on itself or some other melodramatic nonsense - honestly, Jiraiya had been young at the time and so didn't really listen to the specifics. Regardless, the message had been clear; this prophecy better not fuck up.

So Jiraiya felt that his nervousness was justified when he finally reached the entrance to the hall that the Great Toad Sage presided in. He breathed in deeply before entering at a brisk pace. As soon as he walked in the huge Toad in front of him opened his eyes and began to follow his form with an eerie preciseness. As soon as Jiraiya found himself directly in front of the huge toad the amphibian sighed slowly.

"Jiraiya-chan? What are you doing here?" The toad smiled softly as he spoke and Jiraiya resisted the urge to rub his temple in frustration; the damned toad had already forgotten why he had called him.

Shima didn't seem to find any humour in the situation from her position beside the toad and hurriedly explained, "Ōgama Sennin, you called for Jiraiya-chan due to a change in the prophecy."

The huge toad turned his gazed to Shima in confusion, "But I have so very many prophecies..." He hummed for a moment in thought before suddenly the beaming smile that had been on his face disappeared, "Oh. Yes."

"Ōgama Sennin?" Jiraiya asked hesitantly.

"It's changed." The toad heaved at this and a sorrowful gazed occupied his face.

"What do you mean?" Jiraiya prodded carefully; the ambiguity of the Great Toad Sage was infamous.

"The Child has changed." A pause, "Completely."

Jiraiya didn't know why precisely but the words of the toad sent a dark shiver down his spine.

* * *

Hiruzen rubbed his temples tiredly as he stared across the small table in front of him and looked into the stone-cold eyes of his teammates. Homura was standing silently next to the couch across from the Sandaime, the cogs in his mind clearly turning at the revelation that the Hokage had just told them. Koharu, likewise, was simply leaning forward on the couch staring aimlessly at the table in-between them. The Sandaime would have liked to say that they were overreacting - that this display was all simply melodramatics - but for once he couldn't deny the cold hard truth.

Today had truly been a colossal mess.

Finally Koharu looked up and began to speak, "I am not one to say I told you so - such childish remarks only bear ill will - but I feel compelled to point out that this - this - chaos could have easily been avoided had you heeded my words on that cold night nine years ago." She spoke with a cold assurance, confident in the Sandaime's absolute attention at the time. And she was right to do so for as she attacked him sharply his head bowed lower in shame.

"You don't think I realise that?" Hiruzen bit back, a touch of frustration in his voice, "I am no less knowledgeable of my mistake than you are. Perhaps I am even more aware, considering I am forced to see that face every day." _'And those accusing blue eyes never relent.' _Hiruzen added silently to the statement. Whether the venerable leader was speaking of the portrait of the Yondaime that sat across from him or of the youthful eyes of Uzumaki Naruto wasn't clear to the elders in the room.

"And who pays for this mistake? You? No." She paused and swept her arms around them, "Us? No." She looked out the window, "The village? To a degree - he is a weapon but a weapon might always be replaced." She stopped for a second here and turned her accusing gaze upon the Sandaime directly, "But the boy? The boy is lost to us. He is tormented by his very existence. Now, if the boy is the one who pays for the mistake... tell me, who precisely is at fault?"

The Sandaime seemed to shrink in on himself as she spoke. It was a cruel thing to twist his paternal love for the boy like she did but even aware of her dark intentions he couldn't prevent the piercing dagger of grief that struck his heart as she verbally assaulted him. When she finally finished he moved to defend himself but no words could come out. He couldn't even manage a stutter.

_'Is this truly the result of what I chose?'_ It was a silent question to himself and one not easily answered.

When he had revealed the boy's status to the village nine years ago the elders had immediately begun to plot. Homura had demanded the boy be put under Danzo's care. 'A weapon he is,' The man had said, 'and a weapon he should be brought up to be.' Koharu had alternatively desired the boy be cared for until the age of three and then shuffled through jounin, being taught all he was capable of so that in a decade the boy would be a sword to which Konoha could smite their foes._  
_

Regardless of the options, the Sandaime had struck them all down ruthlessly. He didn't even dare to ponder such things when the corpse of Naruto's father was still warm, staring at him with those vacant yet brilliantly bright blue eyes. Instead, he had put Naruto in the orphanage and then, when needed, into an apartment. He had tried to as much as possible afford the boy freedom to chose his own way in life. Of course, much of that freedom was manipulated by the man - Naruto simply _had _to be a shinobi - but the small evils were worth the boy's chance at a somewhat normal life in the Hokage's eyes. But now everything he had done, the planning and plotting - he didn't dare call it anything but that - and the sheer love he held for the child threatened to come crashing down around him. He was reminded of the old saying, 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions.' Because he surely had wished only the best but now, he wasn't sure if he should have even involved himself.

"Stop this display." Homura's voice cut into his thoughts, "Such childish meandering won't help things. It doesn't matter where the blame lies," At this he stared at Hiruzen, making clear his belief of who was at fault, "But what we can do to fix it."

For a second Koharu looked at Homura with a sneer on her face, "Ah, ever the neutral party Homura." A low, derisive snort echoed across the room, "Regardless, you are correct. This is pointless." The Sandaime watched the interaction silently, content to allow the two to fight amongst themselves. When it seemed to have resolved itself he decided to take charge.

"The most important issue right now is Naruto-kun." He spoke softly, daring them to interrupt, "It is clear that we must provide an explanation for the Kyuubi's chakra. The problem is, we're not quite sure the effect it's had on his psyche."

Koharu nodded in reply, "Most pertinent is his mental stability. If he's been negatively impacted by the situation we may have to employ otherwise unsavory means."

A cold fury struck Hiruzen at her words; if she was even daring to imply that they-

"A replacement Jinchurriki is not entirely unreasonable."

"_No._" The Hokage steeled his voice, "Don't voice such thoughts in my presence again." He would not allow them to extract the demon from Naruto and kill him merely for convenience. This was his mess, and he would clean it up. For a single moment he wondered whether if they knew the truth of Naruto's heritage that they would still suggest the same.

The optimistic part of him - however little of it that still existed - believed that Koharu would rescind such a desire. Even the aged woman held great reverence for the Fourth Hokage; she had been grief-stricken by his death, much like the rest of the village. The realistic part of him realised that Homura probably already knew anyway - the man had an uncanny way of finding out that which is best kept buried.

"Your sympathies for the boy is precisely what produced this sordid affair, Hiruzen." Homura's voice was edged with frustration, "If you had a more objective outlook perhaps we wouldn't be in this situation."

"I recognize your concerns," He replied equally sharply, "But my thoughts will not change. The boy is not to be touched."

"And he hasn't already?" Koharu's cold cackle followed her stinging comment, "No matter. It's clear that there is only one thing that _can _be done in this instance." As the two stared at her silently she added, "The boy must be told of his burden." Homura nodded knowingly, seemingly accepting her statement as the only reasonable path.

Hiruzen felt a cold hand grip his heart as he too nodded in acquiescence, "I'll talk to him when he awakens. It's time he's made aware of his past." He worded what he said carefully and such meticulous planning was rewarded by a sharp widening of Homura's eyes.

'_So he does know.'_ Hiruzen thought gravely; he had specifically stated Naruto's past in the hope that if Homura knew of the boy's heritage he believe he was referring to that and so would give himself away through shock. The fact that the reaction he had been looking for _had _occurred was most troubling; it meant either that the precious information surrounding Naruto's parents had been leaked or that such a relation was too obvious to an intelligent eye. Both outcomes were as bad as each other.

The elderly man recovered incredibly quickly from his mistake and his eyes glazed over into a dull expression of discontent but it was clear to Sarutobi that the man realised he had given himself up. Knowing Homura as he did, Hiruzen expected the man to chide himself over the accidental outburst for the next few hours. It was especially horrifying to the man considering he prided himself on his control over his emotions.

"This is the _last _time I trust you Hiruzen." Koharu spoke gravely, "Another mistake and I'll be forced to look elsewhere."

The Sandaime didn't bother to ask about what she was referring to; the mental image of a crippled warhawk had already formed in his mind.

* * *

Hatake Kakashi was not easily scared. He was an elite jounin of Konoha, growing up in the darkest war of the shinobi world. This had a tendency to harden a man and his time in ANBU only doubled his fortitude. In fact, the man could count on his hand the times he had been truly scared for one reason or another.

The first had been when his father had killed himself; stumbling upon the bloody corpse of their father wasn't something that could easily be forgotten by a child. From the moment he had lost his last family relation to the moment he had been put into the care of the now late Namikaze Minato he had been terrified - both of what the future held for him and whether he would be able to survive it. He was utterly alone.

Of course, that all changed when the blonde Yondaime entered his life. A jounin at the time, the Namikaze had cared for the sullen boy, keeping his distance when necessary and providing support always. Considering his stubborn and rude temperament at the time Kakashi was amazed the man put up with him. Nevertheless he had and when two more individuals joined their quickly growing squad Kakashi had scoffed; he would never form these supposed 'bonds' again - not after his father.

He was proven wrong; the resilient Uchiha and caring medic wormed their ways into his heart - so much so that when Obito died saving him and he was utterly surrounded by the enemy, unable to protect Rin, he was once again scared. This time, there was a notable difference however; he was only scared for Rin - for failing Obito - and little else. Eventually his sensei saved the two and he was awarded a bittersweet victory. He had learnt to love again but at the price of the person who had taught him to.

The most notable time he was scared however was that of the Kyuubi attack. Never before in his life had he been brought to his knees by sheer fear. It was both suffocating and horrifying all at once. Even being within kilometres of the monster had put him into a state of disrepute. He could hardly think straight let alone fight against the beast. Such memories heightened his respect for the indomitable Yondaime and really put into perspective the strength of the man to face such a demon and come out victorious.

And now he had another moment of pure, unadulterated fear to add to his list - once again courtesy of the Kyuubi. He had been out on patrol away from the village when a lone ANBU approached him rapidly. Noticing the frantic pace with which she was moving Kakashi readied his weapons, prepared to deal with an invasion of Konoha or otherwise horrifying news.

Instead, he was told something much worse.

Naruto had been attacked; he had tapped into the nine-tails' chakra and was in _hospital_. Kakashi almost staggered from the emotional weight of the news. If there was anyone on the planet that Kakashi cared about now it was the blonde boy; he was his sensei's son and, more importantly, _his _responsibility. It had been in man's will that Jiraiya or the Hatake boy were the guardians of his children in the event of his and Kushina's death.

Of course, as is common in his life, it was stripped from him. Both by the man who had also been scribbled down beside him and by the venerable leader of the village he had sworn to protect. When he had been told that Naruto was to be raised in an orphanage by the Sandaime and Jiraiya he had had a single fleeting moment of indecision where his mind conjured up images of him fighting the two and stealing Naruto away from the place, raising him away from the conspiratorial forces at work. He had smothered such a thought and accepted the decision of the two bitterly.

After all, he was but a fourteen-year-old boy; the two in front of him were wise beyond their years. Surely they knew best.

Now though, hearing that all of the _oh so great _Sandaime's plans had collapsed around him he was struck by two thoughts. The first was a desire to viciously rub it in the man's face with a cruel, 'I told you so!' The second was whether or not the choice to leave Naruto to their plans was a wise one. Such a thing inevitably led to the rather predictable soul-crushing guilt of failing his sensei that he always seemed to find himself in. He coldly hid that away, fearful of the effect it would have on him in light of the danger Naruto was in.

And so the copy-nin did as he always did when faced with adversity.

"Hmm? In trouble you say..." He flipped shut the porn book he had been reading, "I guess I better be off then." He drawled apathetically. The ANBU member in front of him blinked momentarily in surprise at the lack of an emotional response but chalked it down to the copy-nin's odd personality. It was well known that the legendary shinobi masked his emotions well. It was only when the the sharingan user disappeared before his eyes in a burst of speed the ANBU had never before witnessed that the man's true fear for Naruto was revealed.

* * *

Bird shuffled nervously on his feet. The return to Konoha after informing Kakashi of the situation had been a laborious one; he had been essentially running on fumes as he entered the imposing gates of the village. Such exhaustion was only exacerbated when a non-descript chunin had greeted his arrival with a swift summons to the Hokage Tower. The quiet man had hoped he might be allowed a day's rest but it seemed it was not to be.

He forced himself to stand to attention when he heard the door open. It creaked ominously and he was met with the sight of a tired-looking Sandaime entering the room slowly. As the door closed the man flashed through a set of seals and Bird could feel the tell-tale signs of the chakra seals throughout the room activating. This could be a good or bad thing; it could simply be classified information or it could be a dark deed required of him. He prayed it was the former.

The elderly man wearily dragged himself behind his desk and shuffled some papers on his desk before allowing a small sigh to exit his lips. For Bird the sight was shocking; the man looked _old _and throughout his time he had never seen the wizened leader so lax in his emotions. The man was usually either a stone-cold exterior or benevolent ruler. This was neither, this was a tired, depressed man.

And in a moment it was gone, the iron-clad will of the famous leader replacing the visage, "Bird." The Sandaime intoned, "Following recent events surrounding Konoha's Jinchurriki you have been re-assigned to Operation Maelstrom."

There was a moment of silence before it sunk in; he was to watch the Uzumaki boy. He wondered what happened to Fly and realised grimly that the man had obviously been demoted or worse for his incorrigible mistake and because of that Bird now found himself with the duty of observation and protection of one of Konoha's most valuable assets. It was essentially a promotion - not of rank but of trust - for only the Sandaime's inner circle were ever trusted with the boy. Regardless, the ANBU member found himself worried of the task ahead; it was clear that the man in front of him cared greatly for the boy and from Kakashi's reaction today the jounin was also connected. Adding the scattered rumors of the Toad Sannin's involvement in the boy's financial welfare it was no surprise he was apprehensive; if he screwed up he was completely and utterly _fucked_.

He saved a second to pray for the well-being of Fly; the poor ANBU member had well and truly ruined his career at least for the foreseeable future.

"Before I make this official I will make something clear; failure in any way, shape or form is not acceptable." The man paused for a moment, "If another incident like today occurs there will be some _serious _consequences - both for all involved and the boy himself." Bird found himself sweating a little under the mask, "If you screw this up I-" Another pause, "I will be forced to take drastic actions." The unspoken 'I will not forgive you' echoed in Bird's mind.

The ANBU chose to respond at this point, "I live only to serve, Hokage-sama." At this Sarutobi's gazed hardened and he stared at Bird for several seconds.

"Sometimes that's not enough." He clicked his tongue in distaste, "Dismissed."

* * *

The Sandaime walked slowly through the hospital, enjoying the quiet peace of the building. For the first time in the day, he didn't have a meeting to rush to or an explanation to give. He could, for a small while, relax. Relaxing wasn't exactly a good thing though, as his thoughts then focused on the monumental task ahead of him; he was heading toward the room in which Naruto was sleeping and he had a lot to talk to the boy about.

He had been studiously thinking on the task for much of the day. How precisely was he to break it to the boy? To tell him that he had been cursed from the day of his birth by the very man he most idolised - once most idolised, the Hokage corrected; the redheaded puppeteer seemed to have taken the Yondaime's place in Naruto's heart. Regardless, the man was someone Naruto had always admired. Indeed, much of that awe was spurned on by Hiruzen himself; he had desired that the boy have a sort of value and faith in the Hokage's of old and so had told him great stories of the three. The Yondaime had always been the most popular for the boy; after all, what kind of man could _kill _a demon?

_'No kind of man.' _The Sandaime thought wearily, which was precisely the issue. Because of the decisions of his sanctimonious successor - if the blasted boy had simply allowed him to take his place... - he had committed some deeds, dark ones at that, that were now only beginning to unravel. First on the list was the secrecy of the boy's plight - at least in reference to him. He had to deal with that first and foremost and so focused his entire being on that. He didn't dare to even think what he would have to do to earn back the trust of both the boy and the village elite as a collective whole.

And it was all because of one stupid, foolish villager. Needless to say, the Sandaime would ensure he earned his just desserts - if Ibiki hadn't already given them to him.

As he neared the door to the room he dispelled his thoughts and knocked lightly. For a moment there was no visible reaction from inside the room before slowly, ever so slowly, the door creaked open and Kakashi's masked face greeted him. The man looked _tired_ and Hiruzen wondered what he must look like himself if the jounin in front of him was so exhausted.

"How is he?" The Sandaime asked softly. His reply was a bland facial expression of 'what the hell do you think?' From the masked shinobi. To any other the raising of the eyebrows by the silver-haired man would have meant nothing but to the Sandaime, who knew the man's quirks inside and out, he recognized the accusation filling those eyes - the disappointment perched on the brow.

"Sleeping. They have him sedated." It was a sharp reply and the copy-nin wondered if perhaps he was pushing the letter a little _too _much when it came to insubordination.

"They can stop that now." A weary reply if there ever was one, "I wish to speak with him." And to explain some things.

Kakashi merely nodded in reply before he hesitantly asked, "Hokage-sama?" The man drew his attention to the jounin once again, "Perhaps once this is all over it might be best that Naruto have a guardian?"

"Oh?" The Sandaime questioned dangerously, "And I assume you would be the only logical choice?"

"His father-"

"Trusted in my judgement," The Sandaime cut in briskly, "I appreciate your concern for the boy but nothing will change due to this incident." He paused, "This is a setback, I will admit, but it is no reason to cast off the veil of ignorance." It was clear what the man was referring to; the copy-nin suddenly looking after the Jinchurriki after an attack - a blue-eyed, blonde-haired Jinchurriki - would immediately cast suspicion over the boy's heritage. And that was something they had to avoid at all costs; wars would literally be fought over the child.

Despite his common sense screaming to agree with him Kakashi couldn't help but feel angered by the way the Hokage described Naruto as a sort of plan and once again felt a growing desire to whisk the boy away. Of course, as was common with him, the fortitude to do so quickly crumbled and he slumped his shoulders slightly in resignment. He returned his accusing gaze to that of a neutral one and pulled out a small orange book from his pouch.

As he turned the pages Kakashi added in a drawl, "By your leave, Hokage-sama." But he didn't bother to wait, instead leaving the man in a swirl of leaves quickly. It was a small slight - to leave without permission - but it showed how truly angered he was. Unfortunately - or fortunately, depending on how you see it - he was nothing if not an obedient man and so that small action would be the only thing he would do.

He had a weak will when it came to this sort of thing - both he and the Sandaime knew it.

* * *

The first thing Naruto saw when his eyes wearily opened to the outside world was a white ceiling. He immediately recognized the tiling on the roof as that of Konoha's hospital. He was confused for a moment; why was he in the hospital and why did everything hurt _so damn much_? He blearily shook his head lightly to dismiss the fatigue still gripping his mind and moved his hand to wipe the sleep out of his eyes. A jarring pain struck his arm as he moved it and he realised belatedly that he could hardly move his entire body without experiencing a sort of excruciating pain.

It was this festering hurt that forced the memories back into his mind; he had been _attacked!_ And what was that strange voice? And the power, the dark power... It had been so invigorating but also so very terrif-

"I see you're awake." A soft voice punctured his thoughts. Naruto turned his head ever so slowly to the direction from which the voice came and was greeted with the sight of a grim-faced Hokage sitting in the seat beside his bed. He wondered why the man saw fit to wait on him until he remembered the confrontation on the outskirts of the forest - the elderly man had tried to calm him down. Calm him down from what he still didn't know.

"Uhh..." Naruto articulated his concerns in a manner typical of him.

"You're in the hospital. You were taken here after you fell unconscious yesterday." Naruto had a grief-stricken expression on his face at the mention of the previous day. Sarutobi seemed to recognize his desperate confusion and spoke lowly, "I'm sure you have many questions."

Naruto didn't bother to reply, merely nodding his head weakly. He tried to formulate an answer but the words died in his throat. Just how on earth could he broach such a confusing mess to the man in front of him - the man he trusted above all others - who seemed to have a clear idea of what had happened. And if he knew so much about this weird power why hadn't Naruto been told? It reeked of dark intentions to the boy.

"Very well," The Hokage sighed, "I guess I should start at the beginning." He rubbed his temples at this point before speaking carefully, "Naruto, what date were you born?"

The boy looked at him in confusion, "October tenth..." His voice came out scratchy and his whole body vibrated in pain as he spoke.

"A particularly significant day. Nine years ago on that very day the Kyuubi attacked, causing terrible destruction. Thousands died, entire structures were leveled." The man looked squarely in his eyes, "And in spite of this all a small, blonde-haired bundle was found on the doorstep of the hospital by a very special man - the leader of our village."

"M-me?" The boy asked dumbly. What was the Sandaime talking about? Did he mean th-

"The Yondaime picked up this child - a babe barely out of the womb - and within the twinkling eyes of that child he found salvation." The man paused for a moment and allowed Naruto to process his words, "In his very arms was the solution to the horror that had befallen upon Konoha. The end of the terrible demon and it's chaos."

"I don't understand..." Naruto asked hesitantly. His mind was already whirring through possible scenarios; what could he have done to stop the Kyuubi as a baby?

"And all it required was a sacrifice." The man braced himself for the next line, "A two-pronged one at that; to save the village and the people in it he had to give his life - this was accepted easily by the Yondaime, it was his duty to do so - and find someone to bear the darkest of burdens..."

"W-Wh-"

"The Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi in the child, giving up his soul to do so. For his efforts the people had been saved - the baby had been saved - but the child was given a huge responsibility. It was him who had to hold the monster at bay - keep him chained and caged, much like the marks of the Kitsune on his cheeks had foretold."

Naruto shakily raised a hand to his cheek and felt his whisker marks meekly.

"Naruto, on the day of your birth you became a hero. The Yondaime sealed the nine-tail's in you and so you saved the entire village from certain destruction."

"A monster..." It all made sense now; the cruel words that viciously struck him, the inescapable loneliness that shrouded him in despair, the curse that was much of his existence, all caused by one man...

For a single brief and terrifying moment Naruto felt a surge of uncontrollable hatred well up inside of him. The image of the Yondaime conjured in his mind and he felt himself strangling the man, screaming at him, telling him how much the Hokage had doomed his entire life. His hands shook in front of him and he let out a small, sorrowful sob as he allowed the dark feelings to overwhelm him. The man had ruined his life and for what? To save this stupid village?

It was only when he heard the dark chuckling of a sinister being in his mind that he paused in his sorrow. Someone - or rather, something - was taking delight in his hatred for the man. It brought the boy back to reality; he could blame the man all he wanted but there was still a much more obvious culprit; the large fox that somehow presided within him was directly responsible for all his pain.

The Sandaime seemed to notice his inner turmoil and so calmly explained, "I know this is hard to take in but you must stay calm. The anger is what caused the incident yesterday."

Nothing terrified Naruto more than the idea of feeling that dark, malicious power coursing through his veins again and so he took deep breaths to try and calm his panicking heart. This only seemed to worsen the situation and he soon had his hands on his head, his breathing growing increasingly shallow as time went on.

Hiruzen realised the boy was beginning to have a panic attack and so did the first thing he could think of; he leapt out of his toward the child and threw his arms around the small nine-year-old, hugging him fiercely. At first Naruto almost lost it when the physical contact occurred but quickly stilled when he recognized the caring and desperately worried temperament of his grandfather in all but name.

He quickly returned the hug and began to cry softly into the man's shoulder, "I was s-so scared." The man didn't reply, merely placing a soothing hand on his back and holding the hug. After almost a minute of staying the way he was Naruto finally felt himself calm down enough to pull out of the physical embrace. He looked down immediately at his hands, clenching them as he did so.

"Naruto?" The Hokage asked softly, "Are you okay?"

The boy didn't answer and instead refused to even look at the man in the eyes. He couldn't look at anything anymore - at least not in the same way. Everything had changed. He realised with a start that a vicious hate for much of the village was beginning to fester in his stomach. Perhaps it wasn't even the people individually but the ideology of the place as a whole. He hated that they stood for camaraderie and yet so easily cast him aside. He hated that his life seemed just so fucked up. Most of all though, he hated the lies that suffocated him, that held him down.

He finally forced himself to look out the window and by chance his gazed landed on the kind gaze of the Yondaime's face on the mountain. He tightened his fists in frustration as an ambiguous feeling took over him while he stared at the man. He certainly didn't hate the man like he did a moment ago but no longer did he contain the old admiration for the man he had once had. In it's place an empty feeling had settled.

No, he didn't particularly like the sight of the man any longer. Or the idea of the Hokage for that matter.

And that worried Naruto more than anything.

Because that meant everything truly _had _changed.

* * *

**A/N: ****A small chapter but I felt the way it ended was perfect.**

**This is definitely the turning point in terms of Naruto's character. Everything is beginning to slot into place; the reason he's hated - why the old man has a vested interest in him. It's like a cloud of manipulation has finally been shown to him. And just so you know; he definitely will _not _appreciate it. The series has shown that Naruto is nothing if not independent and so the underground workings surrounding him will start to suffocate him. He'll grow a little more, shall we say... cynical.  
**

**I aim to make Kakashi a sympathetic character; he's not _really _responsible for his lack of involvement in Naruto's life - it is bred more from an inability to do wrong by his superiors than the usual weak reasons given by authors. The nonsense about how the guilt prevented him or how he was consumed by ANBU always seemed to rub me the wrong way. For a man who valued companionship and teamwork he sure seemed willing to throw people under the bus for his own emotional pain. Because of this, I tried to flesh out a more logical explanation for him.**

**Jiraiya - now he is an interesting one. I can't say I dislike his character. He's probably one of the most genuine and truly 'good' characters in the series but it doesn't excuse the way he seemingly abandoned Naruto after his birth. We'll just have to see where I go with him. Needless to say, he will play a large part later on.**

**The Sandaime is looking a little _too _manipulative for my tastes right now but I'm trying desperately to balance it with his inability to come up with a better solution. He's trying so very hard to please the village while also doing right by Naruto and his father. Unfortunately for him, trying to do both isn't working out. He's gonna have to choose one eventually. I wonder which, hmm?**

**Finally, Yondaime. Minato has always been an odd one for me. He seems very chipper in the meeting with Naruto in the seal for someone who had essentially screwed over their son's life yet it's undeniable that he should be revered for his own personal sacrifice. I feel like his duty to the village conflicts with his duty to his family a lot. He seems to have a very blase attitude throughout canon but I prefer to see this as a way for him to hide his inner turmoil. Obviously, he isn't a central character in the normal sense for this fic and so this chapter saw a kind of culling of his illusive power over Naruto. It was necessary really to further estabish Sasori's position as the boy's 'idol'.**

**Puppeteering will take a larger focus soon! I promise.**


End file.
